The In-Law Initiation-Nebraska
by Tensor
Summary: Leonard and Penny visit Penny's parents in Omaha and meet people Penny knew when she lived here. From the comment by Susan, in 1001, that she had met Leonard before.
1. Chapter 1

**The In-Law Initiation, Nebraska**

 **Well, I guess you could call this the sequel to The In-Law Initiation from last year. That was about Leonard going home, and bringing Penny with him. This is about Penny going home, and bringing Leonard with her. Hokie3457 deserves major kudos and thanks for reading through this for me. This is set about eight episodes into season seven, a week or two after The Romance Resonance.**

They had stopped for lunch, just west of Lincoln. After lunch, Penny had started driving, as Leonard thought it would be easier, since she knew the route to her parents house. There was one problem, which Leonard fixed by leaning his seat back a bit and telling Penny he was trying to take a nap. In reality, he found it easier to ride with Penny with his eyes closed, and claiming to nap gave him an excuse to close his eyes.

Besides, thought Leonard, there wasn't anything to see. Since they entered Nebraska, and started driving on interstate 80, there had been nothing but empty fields. Penny told him that these fields would have been filled with corn. But this time of year, as she explained, the crops were all in and the fields would lay fallow until the spring.

 _Maybe we should have flown,_ thought Leonard. _No, it's been fun, and except for the flat terrain here, the scenery has been nice. It was a fun, going through the mountains and the Eisenhower Tunnel. We got to drive through Denver and on the way back, we'll go through Salt Lake City and maybe even stop in Vegas for a couple of days._

Leonard felt both the car slowing, and a slight shift in direction. Opening his eyes, he saw Penny was exiting the interstate. "Where are we going, Penny?" he asked.

"Well," she said, "I figure with the noon traffic, and all the trucks, downtown is going to be a bitch to get through. So, I decided to come in the sorta back way. The first part is four lane, and so it will be about the same. As we get closer to the house it will drop to two lanes, but without all of the heavy traffic."

"OK," said Leonard, "you know your way around here, and I don't, so go with it." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "I'm going back to sleep, wake me up when we get closer."

Penny smiled, "Oh, I will. I'll probably wake you when we cross the Platte River, it'll give you a chance to be fully awake when we get to the house."

Leonard opened his left eye and said, "Whatever you think best." He closed his eye, and a few minutes later drifted off to sleep.

Leonard felt a hand shaking him, so he slowly opened his eyes. The bright sunlight forced him to close them again. "Where are we?" he said.

"Crossing the bridge over the Platte River," said Penny. "We're about 20 minutes from the house."

Leonard grinned at her, "Is there going to be anything more interesting than empty fields on the way?"

Penny stuck out her tongue at him, "Yes, two small towns. One of which has my high school. So be quiet and watch the scenery go by."

Penny drove for about five minutes and as the road curved to the left, she pointed toward Leonard's side of the car. "Over there is the town of Valley," said Penny.

"How big?" said Leonard.

"Used to be around 1500 people," said Penny. "I don't know how big it is now."

As they drove along, small homes and barns would appear. Penny said, "You see all these small farms?"

Leonard nodded.

"They all look a lot like our house and barns," said Penny. "And, like these, our fields are behind the barns. We do have power lines running through our fields."

They had passed several roads to either the left or right, or both, but hadn't had to stop. Finally they came to a stop sign. Ahead of them, the road turned into a dirt road. Penny turned right. After a few more miles, the fields on the right gave way to what appeared to be individual homes, but in between the homes, were fields with hay balls.

Leonard said, "Why are there fields between houses?"

"They're starting to create little subdivisions out of the fields," Penny said. "But, until they fill in the houses to some point, they still use them as fields.

As they passed a lake, it looked like there were various islands with houses built on them. Penny explained, "Some developer bought the lake and the land around it, and they filled in part of it, so they could build the houses."

Suddenly Penny got excited and pointed to the right, "Leonard, over there, see that road?"

They were approaching an intersection with a dirt road. Leonard didn't see anything to be excited about but said, "Yeah, what about it?"

"My high school is down that road," said Penny.

Leonard now understanding her excitement said, "Will I get to see it?"

"Yeah," said Penny as she turned the wheel to follow as the road turned to the right, "I take you there, although my mom says it really doesn't look like it used to." Penny now pointed to the right again and Leonard could see houses and some small businesses.

"That's Bennington," said Penny. "That's the closest town to our house. Of course, parts of Omaha aren't much further away. If we needed something quick, we'd go here. If we needed a bigger selection or lower price, we went to Omaha."

About thirty seconds later, as they were going under the high tension power lines, Penny pointed to the left. "See that house, the red barn and the other buildings," asked Penny.

"Yeah?"

"That's home," said Penny with a smile.

As Penny approached the next intersection, one of the few cars they had seen was coming from the other direction and she had to wait to turn. Waiting for the other car allowed Leonard to look at the street sign, "Perkins Street". "What, no dirt road?" said Leonard with a smirk.

"Shut up," said Penny. "There are some larger farms south and north of here, so this road was paved. We basically got it for free."

Leonard watched as the house and barn came closer. He saw two short silos, and a couple of fenced off areas, with several lean-tos. Penny turned left into the driveway, rolling past a green mailbox, the numbers 12813 on it, and, what looked to Leonard like a large metal garage, the silos were behind it, and she pulled to a stop between a house and a red barn. Leonard noted the house was white with dark blue shutters and he could see a satellite dish in the front of the house.

"Well," said Penny, "We're here. You ready to meet my mom and dad?"

"I met your dad already," he reminded her. "But I am nervous about meeting your mom."

Penny laughed, "My mom is probably nervous about meeting you and worried about you finding out things about our family."

"What things?" asked Leonard.

"Oh," said Penny, "Just things. My mom thinks we're the worst family ever in the world. She doesn't really know how bad things could be."

Leonard and Penny got out of the car, Lenard was waiting for Penny to get to his side of the car, when the door of the house opened. Coming out was Wyatt, striding toward Leonard. He appeared to be a bit grayer, and have a bit less hair then a few years before. "Leonard, it's so good to see you again," he said grabbing and vigorously shanking Leonard's hand.

Penny came around, "Hi daddy," she said.

Wyatt let go of Leonard's hand and engulfed his daughter in a hug. "It's so good to see you slugger," he said. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too, daddy," said Penny. "Where's mom?"

"Susan," shouted Wyatt, "The kids are here. C'mon out."

Leonard turned to see an attractive woman come out of the door. She had on dress that came below her knees, her hair was dark brown and came down below her shoulders. As she approached, he could see her eyes and realized where Penny got her green eyes from, although there was some brown in her eye as well. Call them hazel thought Leonard. He also noticed she was taller than Penny.

Penny and her mother hugged, and he could hear Penny say "It's so good to see you mom".

"It's good to have you home again," Susan replied.

They hugged for a few moments, and finally Penny broke the hug and turned to Leonard. "Mom, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Leonard."

Susan took a step forward, hugging him. "Leonard, it's so good to finally meet you." Susan broke the hug, and took a step back, looking at him. "Penny has told us so much about you and I know you know Wyatt likes you."

"Thank you Mrs…"

"Just call me Susan," she said. "We don't need all that formality with someone we like and know so much about."

Leonard nodded.

Wyatt clapped Leonard on the back and said, "How about we get your luggage in, then we can all sit around and catch up. Have a beer or two or three."

"Bob," Susan said sharply, "One beer will be enough."

Turning to Leonard, Wyatt said, "She's always worrying about how much I drink. Come on son, let's get the luggage."

Penny and Susan turned, walking into the house. Leonard and Wyatt went to the trunk, to get their bags. As they were unloading, Wyatt asked, "What do you think of the farm."

"I don't know, Wyatt," said Leonard. "I've never been around a farm, but it will be interesting to look around and have Penny or you tell me about it.

They were carrying the bags in, when Wyatt said, "Either or both of us will get to showing you around a bit later. I'll show you some of the things we do around here, maybe let you work some things yourself. C'mon, lets get these upstairs." Both of them, each carrying two bags, entered the house.

 **A/N I Just want to point out that I finished "The Chew Toy Revelations" three years ago today. It was my first published work, so since it was close, I waited until today to publish this story. There is a real farm at that particular address and the description of the farm, in later chapters, is quite accurate. However, the farm is not on Perkins Street, the street Penny grew up on, I just renamed it for the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A/N. OK, here's chapter two. For now, I plan on releasing a new chapter every four to five days. And, yes, Mahogany's Prime Chophouse is an upscale steak house in west Omaha.**

They were staying in Penny's old room. Wyatt and Leonard had taken their luggage to her room, with Penny following. Wyatt had left after dropping off the luggage, while Leonard looked around and grinned at all the posters up on her walls, various bands and singers Leonard didn't recognize. Not to mention seeing Penny's collection of Care Bears and My Little Ponies scattered around on the bed and various shelves.

Leaving the room, Penny took Leonard on a quick tour of the house. Up stairs she pointed out the four bedrooms and two full baths, and which one they would be using. Then they headed back downstairs and Penny quickly showed him the living room, kitchen, dining area, the half and three-quarter bath and the mud room on the first floor.

She took him through the house back to the Family room, as she called it. Wyatt and Susan were already sitting there, the television was on with some sort of talk show. Susan had a pitcher of what looked like lemonade sitting on a tray on the coffee table. Next to the tray, was a bucket of ice, with some bottled beer in it. Susan had a filled glass of Lemonade in front of her, and there were three empty glasses on the tray. Wyatt had a beer, and Penny grabbed one, to a disapproving look from Susan. Leonard didn't want the same look, so he took a glass, and pour some lemonade, and promptly got a disapproving look from Penny.

Wyatt spoke up, "So what brings you two here? I mean, I'm not complaining, and I don't think Penny's mother minds either." Susan shook her head as Wyatt continued, "It's so good to see you both, and together no less. You don't have to tell us if you don't want, I was just wondering."

Penny and Leonard looked at each other, she was smirking, but he looked embarrassed. Leonard started, "A couple of weeks ago, some friends of ours were celebrating an anniversary, and he was doing something rather romantic for her. I was kidding Penny of never doing anything romantic for me. Well, it turns our that she was holding on to things that meant a lot to her. They were things I had done for her, and she put them in a box. Things like flowers, letters, cards, preg… er, things like that. It went all the way back to even before we started dating the first time."

"One of the things that were in there, were the ticket stubs, from the tickets I bought her to fly home, for the holidays…five years ago now…I think. Anyway, I felt bad that I kept saying she wasn't doing anything romantic, when she was. I know she hadn't been home in a few years, and asked her if she would like to come here, and take me with her. I figured we could both get a couple of weeks off. After all, she came with me when I went home to New Jersey a couple of years ago." He thought for a minute, "Actually, we went to New Jersey before we broke up the first time."

"So," continued Leonard, "she took some time off, I took some time off and with travel time it'll be about two weeks. That gives us about five or six days here, although, I have a student I'm helping, who is working on a paper. If there's something she may need, or a question she has, I may have to look at, but it'll be an hour or two at the most."

"Penny promised to take me around to where she went to school, maybe meet some of her friends, where she used to hang out," he looked at Susan and smiled, "and meet her mother, 'cause after all, I've met you before, Wyatt."

"It's nice to meet you Leonard," said Susan. "Wyatt had some high praise for you, after talking to you about keeping after Penny, when he was out there a few years ago."

Penny looked up, then kept looking at Wyatt and Leonard.

Leonard tried to sidestep that one, "Well, I don't know why he would, I was pretty much lying to him the whole time."

"Yes," said Susan, "but, when he thought you were still Penny's boyfriend, he was impressed with your manners, how humble you were, and mostly that you had a job and no tattoos. And, yes, he even thought it nice of you to do that for Penny."

Leonard chuckled, "I didn't mind, I got to give Penny a hard time while doing it." He turned toward Wyatt, "I kept pushing her, like saying goodnight or I love you to her, knowing she would have to keep kissing me or say it back to me, or you would get suspicious.

Wyatt also chuckled, he looked over at Penny, who had her head buried in her hands, "Well, after she admitted you weren't together, I kinda figured out what you were doing. Was kinda funny."

Leonard said, "You should have heard her when she came over to compla…."

"Stop it," said Penny loudly, "OK yes, it was funny, HA…HA. Now, can we get off the subject, to, say, like what you meant by 'keeping after Penny'?"

Leonard looked uncomfortable, but Wyatt spoke up. "Penny, after you went to your room, I talked to…no begged Leonard to keep after you. He was obviously the best guy I had see you dating. I didn't want you to lose that."

"So," said Penny, "you thought you knew better than me as to who I should be dating?"

"But…but…but," stammered Wyatt.

"First you embarrass me in front of Leonard, then you tell him to keep after me," Penny said, her voice rising.

"Well, I…" started Wyatt.

"NO," said Penny loudly, "I'm not letting you…"

"Penny," said Leonard, "calm down."

Penny gave Leonard a stern look, then turned toward her father, with the same look. Both Leonard and Wyatt started to look worried, when Penny started to gently laugh.

"I'm just playing with you two," said Penny. "You are right daddy, Leonard is the best guy I dated. And thanks for telling him to keep after me. Although, he did take a bit of detour for about eight or nine months." She looked at Leonard sideways.

"I guess it all worked out, since you two are here," said Wyatt. "OK, different subject. Penny I don't know if you noticed, but we took out the single bed from your room, and put in the extra full bed we had."

"Yeah," said Penny, "I did see that, but I was surprised that you would do that and let us sleep in the same bed."

"Penny," said Susan, "the fact that you came home was a pretty good reason. Especially as much as your father went on about how good Leonard was. I wasn't happy when your father suggested it, nothing against you Leonard."

"No problem, ma'am," said Leonard.

"Leonard," said Susan, "you can just call me Susan, OK?"

"OK, ma… Ok" said Leonard, nodding.

Susan continued, "But, that fact that you've been together so long, kinda let me get over it. And let's face it, even here everyone knows you're not a virgin or anything."

"MOM," yelled Penny.

Leonard laughed, "It's OK, Mrs…," Susan scowled at him, "…er…Susan, it's not news to me."

"LEONARD," said Penny, looking at Leonard with a frown.

"Well," said Wyatt, "I have to run over to North Omaha, to start getting my seed order for next spring in and order some hay for the horses and feed for the pigs and chickens. Hey, Leonard, you want to come with me? I can show you what you have to do when ordering seed."

"No daddy," said Penny. "We should unpack, and maybe take a nap."

"Yeah, nap, sure," said Wyatt, with a chuckle.

"DAD," yelled Penny.

"Oh, calm down, we don't expect you to act like a nun, that's why we put the full bed in there."

Penny looked like she was getting ready to say something, but Wyatt beat her to it.

"You just be ready later, we're taking you both out for a steak tonight," said Wyatt.

"At Mahogany's?" asked Penny eagerly.

"Where else would we go, slugger?" said Wyatt with a smile. "We'll leave here around 5:30, so be ready." Wyatt walked over to Susan, gave her a kiss and walked out of the door. Penny and Leonard tried to take the pitcher and glasses, but Susan stopped them, and took them herself, along with the bucket. With nothing else to do, Penny and Leonard walked toward the stairs. Penny pulled out her phone and she suddenly stopped. "Leonard, can you run out to the car and get our chargers? We left them in the car."

Leonard headed out to the car, getting outside, he looked around at all the buildings, equipment and pictured all the fields with crops of whatever Wyatt was planning on growing. He suddenly realized that Wyatt had to be pretty sharp, with a lot of common sense, to keep all this running smoothly. He thought some more about it, weather, crops, prices, all that kind of thing, and he gained a new, sudden respect for Wyatt, as someone who could keep all of this running.

He went to the car, got the chargers and headed back to the house. Getting to their room, he found Penny had almost everything unpacked. After all, they hadn't packed all that much, six or seven outfits each, and she had their clothes already hung in the closet, or placed in Penny's old dresser.

Penny saw him and asked, "What took you so long?"

"I was just looking around at the farm," said Leonard. "I realized that your dad has to be pretty smart to keep all this running smoothly."

Penny grinned at him. "Oh, good to know you think a farmer can be smart."

"Penny," said Leonard, "I never said a farmer couldn't be smart. It's obvious that it takes smarts and common sense to run this place. It's when I was looking over all the buildings and stuff that I realized how much your dad has to juggle. So when do I get the tour of the farm?"

"Tomorrow, I guess," said Penny. "I'll have to find out when were free."

"Sounds good," said Leonard. "What else have you gotten planned for this trip?"

Penny thought a moment, "I may see several friends. I think one or two may even come here, and I'm sure I'll run into others around. Probably go see my brother in rehab and I may run over to my sisters tomorrow morning." She paused for a moment, look down and then said in a soft voice, "I'm not sure I want you to meet them yet."

"Why not?"

"I'd just rather you didn't," said Penny, looking away from Leonard.

"If you feel that way, I won't push you," said Leonard.

"Thanks," said Penny. "Well, maybe my sister, since she's not in rehab, but, we'll see."

"That's OK," said Leonard, "you don't have to introduce us right now."

"Thank you sweetie," said Penny, turning back to him. She leaned over and kissed Leonard.

"That was nice," said Leonard after the kiss. "I have a feeling your mom was close to the truth about the nap."

"Shut up, Leonard."

"How many other guys have been here before?"

"Why would you ask that?" said Penny, looking annoyed. "Did I ask you about how many women have been in your bed, at your father's?"

"Sorry Penny," said Leonard, "I was just kidding around, it wasn't a real question."

"Well, if you must know, I've never been in this bed with anyone," said Penny.

Leonard looked surprised.

Penny smiled and explained, "Don't you remember? My dad said they moved this bed into this room. It used to be my parents frame, with a new box spring and mattress, so no one has used it before, for anything. Now, if you want to know how many guys I've had in this room…or in the basement…or in the family room…or in the barn…"

"OK, OK," said Leonard, "I get it…"

"It's none of your business," said Penny.

Leonard tried to say something, but Penny kissed him, and they never got back to talking.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **A/N There really is a Mahogany's near the farm I'm using as Susan and Wyatt's. I haven't done a disclaimer in a while, so, I don't own a damn thing. Warner Brother's, Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady all own these characters.**

Susan and Wyatt were sitting across from Lenard and Penny in a booth. Wyatt had been telling Leonard about the restaurant, Mahogany's, it's history and how he knew one of the owners, who stopped by the table, since they were kids. Wyatt had told some stories about his childhood, about his friendship with the owner, and why they were here.

Wyatt said, "See, Penny loves steak, and since I knew the one owner, I brought her here when she was a young teen, just after the place opened, and she has always thought of this as one of her favorite places. Of course, with the prices here, it was only for a special occasion, like a birthday, or some accomplishment. But, I always bring her here whenever she comes home now."

"Daddy."

"Yes slugger," said Wyatt.

Penny looked at Wyatt, "That's funny, it's what I want to talk to you about. I noticed you've called me slugger several times since I've come home. When did you start that again?"

Wyatt looked down for a few seconds, "I don't know. I haven't called you that since you started turning into a young woman. Now, I guess it's my way of still thinking of you as a little girl. I know you're not, but I miss those days, you know. If it bothers you, I'll stop."

Penny looked at her father with love, "No, daddy, you can keep calling me slugger. I missed it when you stopped calling me slugger when I started developing."

Wyatt smiled and nodded.

"Can I ask you something, Wyatt?" said Leonard.

"Sure," said Wyatt, "what do you want to know?"

"When you were out in LA the first time," said Leonard, "you mentioned several of Penny's boyfriends…"

"Leonard," said Penny, who looked uncomfortable, "You don't need to bring that up again."

Leonard smirked at Penny, "I'm not, I had something else to ask." Penny nodded, so Leonard continued.

"I was surprised you didn't mention Kurt," said Leonard. Penny slapped her forehead, shaking her head.

A look of anger came over Wyatt's face, and his voice as he said, "I didn't mention him, because I'm trying to forget about him. I never did like him, and I tried to keep him from taking Penny with him out to California."

Leonard noticed Penny's face looked worried as he asked, "Why".

Wyatt said, "I never trusted him. The rest of her boyfriends were in their teens and were young, mostly idiots or goofballs. They may have done something stupid, but they weren't…weren't…flat out dishonest, like Kurt was. Also, Kurt was almost twenty-one and she had just turned seventeen when they started dating, I didn't like the age difference."

Leonard said, "Wyatt, I'm seven years older than Penny."

"Yes," said Wyatt, "but, if you would have tried to date her when she was seventeen, I probably wouldn't have been happy about that, either. Well, until I got to know you."

Leonard noticed Penny now had her face buried in her hands, and spoke up, "Er, Wyatt, maybe we should just leave this, Penny doesn't look like it's a comfortable subject for her."

Wyatt looked at Penny, and seeing her face buried in her hands asked, "I'm sorry, slugger, I'll stop."

Penny looked up at Wyatt, "No, daddy." She turned to Leonard, looking at him she said, "I've told you about me and Kurt in LA, but you don't know about here." Turning back to her father she said, "Go ahead daddy, tell it."

Wyatt looked at Penny for a few seconds, Leonard could see the love in his eyes, "OK, but if it gets too personal, let me know and I'll stop."

He turned back to Leonard. Like I said, the age difference bothered me, because she was under eighteen. I knew she was a bit wild, took after her mother there…"

"WYATT" said Susan sharply, "we don't need to be telling family secrets."

"Ah hell, Susan," said Wyatt, " I…."

"And don't swear."

"Heheheheh," Wyatt chuckled, then continued, "So, I wouldn't allow Penny to see him. In addition to being older, he was a sneaky bastard."

"WYATT," said Susan.

"Just calm down, Susan," said Wyatt. "Leonard is old enough to know these words. Others can't hear us, so just be quiet. Anyway, he was having Penny sneak out of the house to see him. He would keep her out late during her senior year. I'm not holding Penny blameless, but he had an influence on her, and I didn't like it."

"He obviously didn't respect Susan and I, since he was telling her to sneak out. Also, he didn't treat her very well, didn't respect her either, hmmmmm, I don't think he respected anything. But, Penny was infatuated with him and couldn't see it. There were nights she'd be home, and I knew she was crying. There were nights she was just plain mad. I don't know if he didn't show up or he was out with someone else, but I knew he was hurting my daughter."

"What really riled me was what happen that fall. Penny started community college in September and she was actually working at it, staying in during the week, and doing well. Then, a week into the January semester, she dropped out and said she was moving to LA with him. He told her he knew people out in LA that could get her acting jobs, said Wyatt. Well, I knew that was bullsquirt, he'd never even left Omaha before."

"I was angry, but she was now old enough and I couldn't stop her. I knew enough that if I tried, she would get mad, and I might just drive her off completely, since she was "in love". So, I wished her well, told her if she ever needed something, or wanted to come home, we'd be here for her. I even bought her a car, that one she still has, and her and him drove off."

"Turns out, he had some shady friends that I suspect were involved on the edge of porn. Soft core porn, or they were just doing silly movies that highlighted nudity. I know she…er…"

"Wyatt," said Susan, "Don't be talking about such…"

"It's OK, mom, he knows"

Wyatt nodded, "She did that silly movie where she got killed by an ape and was nude. I hope, she didn't do any others…"

"Daddy, I told you, I didn't do any other nude scenes."

"Were his friends involved in porn?"

Penny looked down, and nodded. "Yes, they were. But, I didn't do any. Even later, even when I was so broke, and got offers for jobs in porn, I wouldn't do it."

Wyatt nodded, "Anyway, I guess his plan was to live off of Penny, 'cause I never heard of him having a job. Did he ever get a job?"

Penny shook her head. "He would pick up odd jobs here and there. Especially when he wanted something, and knew we couldn't afford it on what I made as a waitress.

He looked back at Leonard, "We would get phone calls from her about how he was treating her badly. Then she moved out, and I wasn't concerned anymore. Oh, I was worried about her, wondering if she had enough money, how she was doing, but she was away from him, and that was a relief."

"Daddy, I saw him several times after we broke up," said Penny. "As you said, I thought I was in love and couldn't make the break for a while, but Leonard helped me get over it. Look at it this way, if it wasn't for Kurt convincing me to move, I'd never would have met Leonard."

"Penny," said Wyatt, "as much as I like Leonard, that reasoning is NOT going to make me like Kurt. Did he ever mistreat…er…oh hell, did he ever hit you?"

"No, he never did that, although there were times I was afraid he might," said Penny. " I think we've got to the end of the story. So, now can we leave this alone?"

Wyatt smiled at Penny, "Sure slugger. Why don't we finish up? Then we can get desert and head on home."

"I'm pretty full," said Leonard, wiping his mouth with his napkin, "I'll pass on desert."

"See, Susan," said Wyatt, "I told you that Leonard could use a napkin."

Leonard looked embarrassed, Penny rolled her eyes and shook her head.

After returning from the restaurant, Leonard, Penny, and Wyatt, after some complaints from Susan, had beers. All four were watching television and talking, Leonard explaining some of what he did. Penny headed to the bathroom, and when she came back, Leonard and her father were gone. She asked her mother where they were, and her mother said Wyatt had wanted to show Leonard something.

Penny sat back down with her mother and continued to watch television. After the local news went off, Susan rose, and said she was heading for bed. Penny went looking for Leonard. She didn't find him downstairs, so she turned the TV off and went looking for Leonard upstairs. She found Leonard with her father, in one of the bedrooms Wyatt had converted to an office. It looked like Wyatt had several things spread out on his desk.

"Daddy," said Penny, "Mom's heading to bed."

"OK, slugger," said Wyatt. "We still have a bit more to go over."

"Whatcha doing?" said Penny.

"He's showing me his rotation plan for the fields," said Leonard excitedly. "It's interesting. How he plans it, why he does it, when and where each part of the field changes, what crops he uses."

"He picked it up real fast," said Wyatt. "I tried to teach it to the guy down the road and it took him almost six months."

"You can always continue this tomorrow," said Penny.

Wyatt nodded, "Yeah, I guess we can. You good with that Leonard?"

"Yes, we can do that."

Wyatt nodded and they all walked out of the room, Wyatt heading for his bedroom. Leonard thought 10:30 PM was a bit early to go to bed, but he went back downstairs to helped Penny to turn off the lights and make sure the doors were locked, and then they also headed for bed. They had both finished in the bathroom and were changing, talking as they did. "So, what are we doing tomorrow?" asked Leonard.

Penny looked thoughtful, "Well, in the morning, my dad is taking you around to see the fields, show you how the tractors, and the other equipment he uses works, although there isn't anything growing right now. I'll be heading over to see my sister. After lunch, I'm going to show you around the parts of the farm near the house, the barn, some of the buildings, the animals."

Leonard looked surprised, "And when was this all planned?"

"Tonight, when you went to the bathroom while we were watching TV," said Penny. "Oh, there is one other thing were doing tomorrow after I show you around, but it's a surprise."

"A good surprise, or a bad surprise?" asked Leonard.

Penny grinned wickedly. "Good for me, could be bad for you."

"We're going out to tip cows," guessed Leonard.

"No, we're not," said Penny.

"But we are going to do it sometime, right?"

"No, we're not," said Penny. "You do that to other people's cows, not your own. And, besides, two of us are not enough to tip cows." She paused for a minute. "Why was my dad showing you all the rotation stuff?"

"He mentioned he was planning it, I asked about it," said Leonard, "and he wanted to show me, I guess."

"It just seems weird," said Penny getting into bed.

"I don't know," said Leonard, also getting into bed. "Like I said, I found it interesting."

He rolled over spooning Penny, "Hey, what do you think of some sex tonight?"

"Leonard," said Penny, "you know how loud both of us can get. I'd prefer for my parents not to hear that. We can wait for a few days, until were back on the road."

"Yeah, I guess," said Leonard. He reached over, and took her hand in his.

As they were drifting off to sleep, they heard a soft knocking, "What's that?" asked Leonard.

"Is someone at the door?" asked Penny.

The knocking became louder and more rhythmic. Suddenly there was a high pitched "Oh God."

Leonard realized what it was, at the same time Penny pulled the pillow over her head, "Oh geez, I don't want to hear that from my parents."

Leonard was chuckling as he said, "Well, at least I know where you get it from."

"Shut up Leonard."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **I used the John Deere 6150M as Wyatt's tractor. The interior is pretty much as described. Several of the specific operations, of the equipment, may not be totally accurate. Think of it as poetic license. For those interested in the specifics of Nebraska land surveys, Look up Section, US Land Surveying, on Wikipedia.**

Leonard slowly woke up, reaching over to Penny, he found the bed empty. He sat up and shook his head. Looking over at the clock, he saw it was just after 8 AM. _Where the hell was Penny?_ He walked to the bathroom, finding Penny wasn't in there either. _Penny never gets up this early, where is she?_ He then emptied his bladder, washed his hands, then his face, brushed his teeth, then walked back to the bedroom.

He changed into his clothes; jeans, a t-shirt, and something Penny put out for him the night before, a pair of cowboy boots. He made the bed, then noticed Penny's nightgown crumpled up in the chair. He folded it, laid it on the bed, and then walked out of the bedroom and headed down the stairs.

About half-way down, he heard Penny's voice. Although he couldn't make out the words, he followed the sound to the dining area. There sat Penny, along with her mom and dad. Penny saw him and with a wicked grin said, "Hello sleepyhead, it's about time you got up."

"What are you doing up so early?" asked Leonard.

"Things to do, this is a farm. Must be nice to sleep in. You want some coffee?" said Penny. "Here, I'll get you one, sit down."

Leonard gestured with his head, towards Penny's parents.

Penny, realized he was asking if she had said anything to them, shook her head.

Leonard understood, nodded, then said good morning to Susan and Wyatt.

"What things do you have to do?" said Leonard.

"Well, I went and got the eggs for breakfast this morning," said Penny.

"Why didn't you say something last night?" said Leonard. "We could have stopped at the store on the way home."

The other three all broke into laughter. "What?" said Leonard irritably.

Penny bringing over his coffee, said to her parents "I don't get to raze him about me getting up earlier than him very often." Turning to Leonard she said, "Sweety, this is a farm, remember? I went and got the eggs from the hens. The eggs were laid since yesterday morning." She headed toward the stove, "Do you want yours scrambled, or fried?"

Leonard looked embarrassed. "Scrambled."

"OK," said Penny, "do you want bacon or ham?"

"Bacon is fine," said Leonard.

"I'll get you some juice, too," said Penny.

"It's OK son," said Wyatt, "I suspect you aren't used to having eggs fresh from the hen's butt."

"BOB!" said Susan.

"Oh, don't worry, Susan" said Wyatt, "he knows what I mean and there's nothing wrong with that, Leonard's not stupid." Turning to Leonard he said, "So, Leonard, what do you think of the farm so far?"

"Well sir…"

"Son," said Wyatt, "you call me Wyatt, you call Susan, Susan, you got that."

"Yes sir," said Leonard.

Wyatt just sighed, "Go ahead…"

"I was standing outside, looking around at the farm yesterday afternoon," said Leonard, "when it struck me. You have to be pretty sharp, and have a lot of sense to run a farm. Knowing about the equipment, the animals, plants, fertilizer, harvesting, weather, all of that and much more. How much it all costs, how much it may bring in. That's a lot to be doing. Then I learned about crop rotation last night. Just seems so overwhelming."

"Do you want to know more, son?" asked Wyatt. "I can give you a quick run through of everything I have to do. You're pretty smart, you'll pick it up quick."

Penny got up, took her dishes to the sink. "Daddy, take Leonard out and show him the tractor and the fields."

"Do you want to go out with me?"

Leonard nodded, "I'd love it sir…er…Wyatt."

She walked to her father and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks daddy." Penny walked out of the kitchen heading for the back door.

"Wait, where are you go…," he trailed off, realizing she wasn't there.

Suddenly Susan got up, and hurried out toward the back door, and shortly, Leonard and Wyatt heard her yell out Penny's name.

"Wyatt," said Leonard, turning back toward him, "She said she was going to go see her sister."

"Ahhhhhhhh, OK. Well, then," said Wyatt, "you finish up your breakfast, take some time for a second cup, I've got a call or two to make, and then I'll run you around the fields in the tractor and talk you though some of it."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Leonard.

Susan came back in, and Wyatt looked at her quizzically.

"I asked Penny to pick up some spices on her way back, for dinner tomorrow."

Wyatt nodded and went back to eating.

A half hour later, Leonard was following Wyatt, who had opened the rather large doors on a building behind and to the right of the house. Immediately inside was the tractor. Behind the tractor, there were several other machines, that Leonard didn't recognize.

Wyatt opened the main tractor door, then got in. He started it, and while it was warming up Leonard saw him lower a seat, attached to the rear of the cab, just to his left. Wyatt motioned him up and Leonard climbed up. He found it a little difficult to get in, but he made it and sat down. He was having trouble getting the door to close and Wyatt leaned over to help him close the door.

Leonard was feeling rather foolish, and Wyatt must have seen that, as he said, "Trying to get that door closed, especially from that seat is a bit tricky, it's the one thing I don't like about this tractor. So, don't worry about having trouble getting in."

Wyatt went back to the controls. This gave Leonard a chance to look around the cab, and what he saw impressed him. In front of Wyatt, the dash looked pretty much like a dash in front of the driver of a car. But Leonard could see five pedals below the dash. He recognized the gas pedal, and he assumed the two to the left of the gas pedal were, the brake and clutch, but what the others were for, he had no idea.

It was, surprisingly to Leonard, very quiet in the cab. He could feel the rumble of the diesel engine, but not very much of the sound. Wyatt had spoken to him in a normal volume, as if they were sitting in the house. But it was, to the right of Wyatt, that really impressed Leonard. There were two computer screens, and a couple of what looked like large joysticks, with many buttons on them. There were several rows, along with several blocks of buttons, and every few seconds, Wyatt would push one. Above Wyatt was what looked liked a car radio with a CD player.

"You, ready?" said Wyatt.

"Yes, sir."

Wyatt shook his head, sighed, then pushed one of the pedals down, the rumble increased, moved what Leonard thought was a shifter, and let out another pedal and the tractor moved forward. Leaving the vehicle barn, he turned to the right and shortly after that, to the left. They were going past a couple of buildings. A little jog to the right, and they were out on, what Leonard saw was a large stretch of dirt. He assumed this would all be plants during the spring and summer.

Wyatt was following along the fence, heading towards the road that ran in front of the house. Getting to the road, Wyatt turned right, and paralleled the road and finally Leonard asked a question. "How much land do you have here Wyatt?" asked Leonard.

"We have 80 acres," said Wyatt. "My family used to own the entire quarter section, that's 160 acres, I'll tell you more when we get to that part of the fields."

Wyatt, started explaining what some of the buttons did. How it worked with the computer screen and the "joysticks". Wyatt was rather impressed on how quickly Leonard picked up the various functions. But then, he knew Leonard had his doctorate, and worked at a prestigious university, so maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise. He thought about what him and Susan had talked about several months ago, and remembering how quickly Leonard had picked up the crop rotation and an idea began to form.

They had gotten to the end, a road in front of them, so Wyatt stopped. "The house is back about a half mile away now. A quarter section is a half mile by a half mile, and like I said, that's 160 acres, as we move along here to the right, it will be a quarter mile, when we get to the property line."

Wyatt turned left and they moved along parallel to that road. They went under some high tension electrical wires, and Leonard asked, "Doesn't having those in the middle of the field cause problems for you?"

"Not really," said Wyatt, "I only have to provide access to each of the towers, which are near the roads. The path is the width of one of their trucks, and that's only three rows. I have one from this road, and the other from the road on the far side of the field. For that, they pay me a monthly rental fee. Actually my dad negotiated that, but it's part of the farm now."

They reached a stand of trees, and Wyatt turned the tractor, and then stopped.

"See this line of trees, and all fields on the other side?" said Wyatt. Leonard nodded.

"Well," said Wyatt, "that used to belong to my dad. He sold all that as It was getting to be too much for him, he was in his seventies, and he also needed some cash for newer equipment. I have 80 acres, that field has 80 acres, so between the two, he had 160 acres, that's the quarter section, I told you about. It fits with all of these fields, if you know how the Great Plains were surveyed."

"I'll tell you a secret," said Wyatt, "for many years now, I have left that money alone. I dip into it if I need new equipment, but then I put it back, like I'm paying a loan. So we don't have to worry about if there are problems with the farm, we have money put away for that."

He was thinking about his idea, as he continued, wondering how he was going to bring it up, "But, I'm getting older, and in a few years it'll be too much for me. But, here's another secret, and I'd appreciate if you don't say anything. If I do sell the farm to one of the kids, they'll get it at the cost of the farm, and that extra money, goes with the farm at no charge. Basically extra money, that isn't part of the sale price. If none of the kids want the farm, that money will be added to mine and Susan's retirement."

"I was hoping sell it to the kids," said Wyatt wistfully. "But, Penny's sister isn't interested, and her brother has too many problems with drugs or legal issues. Penny is the only possibility. I know she really loves the farm, but she's in LA now, and she has you, so the chances of the two of you coming back here aren't good."

Leonard laughed, "That's true, I can't see me running a farm, sir. I don't know anything about a farm, and I'm not able to do much physical work."

"Oh, you're smart enough to figure it out," said Wyatt. "As for the physical work, I don't do much of that anymore anyway, getting too old. That's why I have people who work for me. I bet you wouldn't have any problem with running this place, after learning a bit about it. If you're smart enough to learn all that physics stuff, you could learn about a farm. I'm sure I could teach you. You picked up that crop rotation thing pretty quick."

Leonard was puzzled at Wyatt's comments. _I've never wanted to be a farmer and I wouldn't know where to begin._ He shook his head, "I don't think so, sir."

"Oh, yeah, you could," said Wyatt. "Here, I'll show you." Wyatt pushed a couple of buttons, then got out of the chair. "Here, sit down."

Leonard looked at Wyatt, puzzled, but Wyatt was insistent, "Here, in the seat."

Leonard shrugged and moved over to sit in the main seat, while Wyatt sat where Leonard had been sitting.

"Now, were going to plow up this group of rows near the property line," said Wyatt. He explained which buttons he needed to push, and after he did, Leonard looked back and could see a set of tillers on each side lower down to just above the ground. Once those were down, he pushed the next button. At that, one of the screens came up.

"Ok, Leonard," said Wyatt, "First this drives like a regular car. These three pedals are clutch, brake, gas, and here is the shifter. Also, that yellow pedal is what gives power to the tillers. So, once you have everything set, and are ready to go, you push that down. Now you use the controller, to select the depth." Wyatt reached over and pushed a button, the screen changed to show the tillers were two inches above the ground.

"OK," said Wyatt pointing to the button, "now, using the top button on controller, select both tillers. To select both, push it forward. Left would select the left side, right, the right. To lower the tillers pull the control back to lower the tillers, forward to raise them. You watch the screen for the depth, lets say three inches into the ground."

Leonard wrapped his hand around the controller, pushed the selector button forward, then pulled back on the controller until the tillers lowered into position, the screen showing the tillers three inches into the ground. Leonard looked at the screen, everything looked ready. "Now remember, said Wyatt, "you can see there are places where the land on one side is higher, or lower, than the other. As you move over those, you steer with one hand, and have to change the depth on that side with the other. You do that by moving the selector on the top of the controller to the side you want with your thumb, and then moving the controller to the new depth. Here, we go…"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **A/N. We start to meet some people Penny knew when she lived here. Oh yeah, I don't own any of these characters, well, maybe several cows or so.**

Remembering her mother's request, Penny had stopped at the store on her way home from visiting her sister. She was looking at some spices and trying to remember exactly what her mother wanted. _Did she say whole or ground allspice…oh and, garlic salt…wait, salt or powder…c'mon Penny think._ Suddenly her concentration was broken upon hearing her named. She looked around and saw the person yelling out her name.

"Rosie," Penny yelled back, "Oh my god." Penny and the woman ran toward each other, enveloping the other in a bearhug. They hung on to each other for almost a half a minute before breaking, each trying to talk over the other. Finally, Penny said, "You go ahead."

"What are you doing here?" asked Rosie.

"I'm home visiting," said Penny. "My boyfriend thought it would be nice to visit, so we both took some time off and drove here."

"Boyfriend," said Rosie, "are you still with Kurt?"

"No," said Penny, "we broke up seven or so years ago. After I broke up with Kurt, I moved into an apartment across from these two guys. They were an odd pair, but I ended up going out with one of them. He really is a sweetheart, and really good for me. You should come over this afternoon, I'll introduce him to you."

"Blond hair, with muscles, as usual?" said Rosie with a sly smile.

"No," said Penny, with a chuckle, "not muscular, not blond. I finally found my Ernie."

Rosie looked at Penny with a strange expression, but she didn't say anything.

Penny continued, "He's got his doctorate in Physics and is at Cal Tech, works on experimental lasers and a few other things."

Rosie's eye's widened, "Cal Tech? Wow, how did you end up with him."

"Like I said, after I broke up with Kurt, I moved out and moved in across the hall from these two guys," said Penny. "I became friends with the one, then we started going out. We broke up, but stayed friends, something I didn't usually do with exes. Then, about two years ago, we started dating again. The first few months were kind of rocky, but we've been pretty solid for about a year now." Again, Penny offered an invitation, "Why don't you stop by my parent's house, I'll introduce you."

"This afternoon would be good," said Rosie. "I'm not working today, and my husband is out of town, so I don't have anything pressing."

"Wait," said Penny in surprise. "What? You're married?"

"Yep," said Rosie, "just over a year now. It's a really strange story."

"Well, so's mine," said Penny, "but, I'll save that for later. You want to come by around 3:30 or so?"

"Sounds good, I'll be by around then, maybe a bit later, I have some errands to run."

"OK," said Penny, leaning over to hug Rosie. "We'll see you then."

"Can't wait," said Rosie. She hugged Penny and walked off, waving.

Leonard, Wyatt and Susan were sitting at the table eating lunch, Susan had made them both sandwiches and soup. Leonard was asking question about the farm, how long they've been here, how things worked, getting seeds fertilizer, and other things.

"You should have seen him Susan," said Wyatt, "he had it mastered in about five minutes. He was moving that controller like he's been doing it for years. Even when there was an angle, he had it just at the right depth."

"It wasn't that big of a deal Wyatt," said Leonard. "If it was at the angle I estimated, then the angle that the tillers were set at would need to be at 15 degrees…" Just then his phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at it. "Excuse me," said Leonard, "I've got to take this." He rose and walked into the living room.

Wyatt was just about to say something, when Susan and Wyatt heard the car pull in, heard the door slam, and a few seconds later, Penny came rushing through the door, "MOM," she yelled.

"Tone it down Penny, I'm right here" said Susan.

"Oh, sorry. I got your stuff," said Penny.

"How's your sister?" asked Susan.

"The usual, we'll talk later." said Penny evasively. "I wasn't sure which you wanted so I got some of both."

"Some of both?" asked Susan. "What are you talking about? All I asked for was ground Allspice and Garlic powder. What do you mean both?"

"Just look in here," Penny said, handing Susan the bag. "Where's Leonard?"

"He's in the living room, he got a call, he said he had to take."

"OK, thanks," said Penny, heading to the living room. She saw Leonard on his phone, and he said, "OK, how long will it take to get it set up…Fine, I'll get back to you then…That's around 3:45…wait a minute, that's 1:45 your time…so get your equipment set up and I'll go over it with you then. OK, bye."

As Leonard was hanging up, Penny spoke up, "What's up?"

"Julie is having problems with one of the experiments," said Leonard. "I told her to set it up, and I'll call her back around quarter to four, so we can go over it together."

"Damn."

"What's wrong?" asked Leonard.

"I have a friend coming over, that I wanted you to meet," said Penny. "I mentioned her to you before."

"Who is it?"

"You remember me telling you about Rosie?" said Penny. "I mentioned how we both wanted Ernie, and we didn't talk to each other for a few years?"

"Vaguely."

"It was when you asked me to set Howard up," said Penny.

Leonard just shrugged.

"Anyway, I ran into her at the store," said Penny, "and I invited her over so I could introduce you."

"What time?"

"Around 3:30," said Penny.

"Well, that should work out, you can introduce me and then I can go help Julie."

"I wanted her to talk to you," said Penny. "I told her you were my Ernie."

"Awwww, that's sweet," said Leonard, with a smile. "I'll talk to her for a bit, we'll have fifteen or so minutes, then I'll head to your bedroom to talk to Julie."

Penny thought for a moment, then said, "Sound's good to me. Let's get lunch."

"I've already been eating," said Leonard. "But, you can come and join us."

They walked into the kitchen. Susan started to get up but Penny said, "Sit down mom. I can get my own sandwiches."

Susan sat down and said, "There some soup on the stove, and tea in the 'fridge."

"Thanks," said Penny. She was at the refrigerator, getting things for to make a sandwich.

Wyatt stood, and said, "Well, honey, I'll be back in a bit. I have a meeting with the co-op for the majority of our seed." He turned to Leonard. "Leonard, our co-op gets together and we pool our orders, so we can get our seed at a low price that only the really big farms usually can get. Mostly it's corn, but yesterday, I had to order a smaller amount of some soybean seeds for my crop rotation schedule, remember when I told you that last night?"

Leonard thought for a second, then nodded.

Wyatt continued, "Our co-op doesn't order soybean seeds, most of it is small orders, so that's why I went yesterday. Hey, you could come with me, I could introduce you around."

"I can't Wyatt," said Leonard. " Penny's showing me around the farm, and I have a call I have to make to my grad student. Also, Penny has a friend coming over she wants me to meet."

Wyatt shrugged, rose and walked over to Susan, leaned over and kissed her. "Remember Susan, we're going to the co-op dinner tonight. I'll be home in time to get a shower and change, see you then."

Susan smiled and said, "See you later, bye."

They watched Wyatt walk out the door.

"So," said Susan, "How's your sister?"

"I wouldn't say very good," said Penny. "She'd already been drin…"

"Well, I'm not surprised," said Susan, cutting Penny off. She looked over at Leonard. "Perhaps we can talk about it later."

Penny nodded.

An hour later, Leonard and Penny left the house, Penny knowing what was coming had Leonard put on his boots again, and she was wearing hers. As they stood on the porch, Penny said, "What do you want to see first?"

"I don't know," said Leonard, "I've never been on a farm before and all I've seen are the fields this morning. Oh, and that building where the tractor was. How about showing me what the buildings are for? Even the one with the tractor."

"Well, lets start with the machines first," said Penny. She took his hand started to lead him to the building right behind the house. Suddenly she stopped. "Did he show you the machines this morning?"

"Just the tractor and the tiller," said Leonard. "I saw all the other machines, but I don't know what they do."

"OK," said Penny, "We'll go there."

"I do have a question," said Leonard.

"What is it?" said Penny.

"How come your mom called your dad, Bob?" asked Leonard.

"What?"

"Your mom called your dad Bob," said Leonard. "Once last night, and this morning."

"That goes back a long time," said Penny with a smile. "When they first met, my dad didn't like his name, he was using his middle name, Robert. So, my mom got to know him as Robert, or Bob, and she still sometimes calls him that when she's either mad at him or is feeling romantic." Penny shuddered.

"What's wrong?"

"My parents getting romantic," said Penny. "Reminds me of last night, and I don't need that picture in my mind."

"Well," said Leonard, " think of you and me, think of us kissing, then think of how we…"

"Stop it, Leonard," said Penny, "Or I'm gonna jump you as soon as we get in there. "You're right though, that is better."

Leonard grinned at her as they walked toward the metal building that held the tractor. Reaching it, Penny opened the side door, turned on the lights, and led Leonard into it.

"Yeah, there's the tractor," said Leonard. "Although, I didn't see those back there. What are all of those?" he asked.

"Hmmmmm," said Penny. "The ones back there all do different things, mostly being pulled by a tractor. The one right behind it, is the plow. It digs up the soil, it's generally used in the spring before tilling, or after, to dig the old plants into the ground. It's more heavy duty than the tiller."

"After that, is the planter. My dad usually hooks up the planter to the tiller and plants after he does the spring plowing. After that, he disconnects the planter and attaches either the spreader or keeps the tiller on. The spreader puts down fertilizer and weed killer. The tiller…"

"Plows the rows, in between the plants. You can set it for various depths to help control weeds, or plow them under, without hurting the plants, or till a row to plant," said Leonard.

Penny looked amazed, "How do you know that?"

Leonard chuckled, "I was out with your dad remember? The tiller is hooked up right now. He had me work the tiller and drive the tractor. I must say," said Leonard proudly, "I did a pretty good job, according to your dad."

"You?" said Penny. "You drove the tractor and ran the tiller?"

"Yep," said Leonard, plowed several rows, even on an angle. Your dad said I did very well."

Penny shook her head. "Amazing. Anyway, that big thing, in the back, is the combine. It harvests the crops."

"Why is it called a combine?" asked Leonard.

"It does the harvest by cutting the plant near the ground, it then loosens the grain, then separates the grain from the chaff," explained Penny. "It's called a combine, because it combines all three of those functions. After that, there is a feeder that shoots the grain into a truck, and then the combine chops up the unused parts of the plant, and spreads it around on the ground."

"Ok, what else?"

"Come on, were going back outside," said Penny. After leaving, and closing the door, Penny lead Leonard to the other side of this building. There was a long, low structure that was open to one side. "Under there, are two different heads that go on the combine. We have three, one for corn, one for soybeans, and one for wheat. It depends on what crop is being harvested."

"I thought you said you had three, but there are only two under there, right?"

"Leonard," said Penny, "there is one already on the combine. It's changed when needed."

"Oh, OK," said Leonard, sounding embarrassed.

They were walking toward the fields, approaching two buildings, a bigger one, and a smaller one. It was the smaller one they were walking towards.

"That's our cow barn and milking station," said Penny, pointing to the larger of the two. "See, over there, to the right of the building, and behind the equipment building? That's all fields for the cows and horses. When the cow are ready to be milked, they walk to the station themselves, it's all automated. Besides the milking stalls, there are also some stalls in there, for the cows to get out of the weather, if it's bad."

Leonard looked over and could see several cows, standing outside the building.

"The milk is stored in a chilled thousand gallon tank," continued Penny, "and every third day or so, a truck comes by to pick it up and take it to a local dairy, then they clean the tank. We're not very big, 20 cows max, so we have to sell it to independent dairies. That smaller building to the left has about 15 stalls for the cows, like in the milking building. And an area for mating the cows with the bulls."

Penny looked lost in thought, looking over the fields. Leonard didn't know quite what to say. He thought she was probably thinking about some memory, so he kept quiet and just looked in the same direction Penny was looking. It was quiet, and Leonard felt at peace. He could hear some birds in the distance. Finally, Penny shook her head, and pointed. "Come on," said Penny grabbing his hand, "I'll show you the barn."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 **A/N I want to thank everyone who has read, and especially those who have reviewed this story. Thanks.**

As they walked toward barn, the passed a smaller fenced area. "That's my mom's garden. She raises beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and a few other things over the summer. She likes gardening and this gives her a chance to do it and gives them some vegetables for the house. "

The got to the barn, Penny opened the door, and they entered. "We keep most of our animals in here, except for the hogs and cows," Penny said. "Horses, the two bulls most of the time, the chickens and someone very special." Upon entering, Leonard saw, just to the left, five stalls, three if them contained a horse. Penny looked at them, and said, "We'll come back to the horses in a few minutes." To the right was a larger pen, holding the two bulls, which they walked by.

As they went to the other end of the barn, Leonard noticed there were various tools and equipment, hanging on the walls, none of which, Leonard recognized. _Well, the pick, shovel, and pitchfork I recognized_ , he thought. As they approached the other door, there were two pens to the right, one bigger than the other. Penny moved to the smaller pen. Leonard saw a pig, laying in the pen.

"That's Moondance, my pet pig," said Penny. Hearing Penny's voice, it got up and walked toward the fence. Looking up, it squealed at Penny and she reached over and was scratching it just behind it's ears. "I raised her myself. See that other pen? Once they are weaned, we put the young hogs in there. It was my job to feed them, look over them."

"Moondance was a runt and the mother wouldn't feed it, and I knew, in the pen, the other hogs would pushed her aside. I felt bad for her, and took her from the mother, fed it myself, took care of her, and here she is. She can wander outside through that door. My dad takes the tractor through there, and I sometimes worry she might get hit, but my dad is pretty careful. I believe there was some thought to having her slaughtered, but I think my dad knew I was go nuts and didn't do it."

They sat there for several minutes, and Penny pulled out a carrot, giving it to Moondance, although Leonard noticed she carefully kept her fingers away. She again, looked lost in thought, but this time Leonard, thinking about what Wyatt had said, asked, "You miss this, don't you?"

"What?" Penny said.

"You miss being here," said Leonard, "here on the farm, don't you?"

"Yes, and no," said Penny. "There are the times that I remember growing up here, 'cause as a kid it was pretty wonderful. But, as I got older, I just wanted to get away, to find something not so country, and to get away from my parents. As you heard, we fought a lot when I was an older teen. I don't feel that way toward them anymore, but I'm not sure I could leave LA now. Especially to come back here. I just got used to the city."

"What if there was a chance of coming back?" asked Leonard.

"What? You're talking silly," she said. "Come on, we'll continue the tour." She then walked to the other side of the barn. Leonard had heard the clucking and knew the chickens were over here.

Along the wall were ten sheltered areas, that to Leonard looked like they contained nests. Each had a chicken in it. Penny smiled and said, "That's where I got the eggs this morning. We don't keep a lot of chickens, just enough to give us eggs and once in a while, a dinner. If you look in the corner, you can see a little door they can run in and out. We spread feed and grit outside, although it is under a tin roof. Come on, I'll show you."

Getting outside the barn, they entered a small fenced area, and sure enough, there was a small area under a tin roof. Leonard could see several chickens under the roof. Penny pointed over to the left.

"See that building?" said Penny. "That is the maintenance building. That's where my dad, and his workers do any maintenance on the tractor, combine and the other attachments." Pointing to the right, she said, "You can see where the path for the tractor is. From the storage shed, to the maintenance shed, and you can see where Moondance's area is."

"Over by the silos, you can't see it from here, but on the other side of the maintenance shed, is where the hogs are. Except for the young ones, which we have in here, we tend to keep them as far from the house as possible," she said with a grin.

He was looking in the direction the silos. He turned around, and spotted Penny, again looking over the fields, turning every so often to look at a building, with a far off look in her eyes.

He kept quiet, just watching her and thinking, and after a few minutes, she shook her head, and looked back at Leonard. He smiled and said, "You do really miss being here, don't you?"

Penny looked embarrassed, "Like I said, I would miss LA even more."

"I'm not to sure about that."

"Well…then I would miss you."

"Well, I could always come with you," said Leonard.

"Stop it Leonard," said Penny.

"Penny," said Leonard, "I don't really understand it, and I'm not saying you want to leave LA, but I can see how much you love this place. It's in your face and your eyes when you look at the fields, at the buildings, at the animals."

"You're wrong," said Penny as she turned and walked into the barn.

Leonard watched her, thinking _She's closed off again. She doesn't want to admit to her feelings for this place. I wish I could make her see it._ He hurried and caught up to her.

"I've got something else to show you. Remember the surprise I would like and you wouldn't?"

Learned simply nodded, though he looked worried, as he had caught up with Penny. Penny walked up to one of the horses, a carrot suddenly appearing in her hand. Giving it to the horse, she said, "This is Kisses. She used to be my horse when I was younger, I'd ride her all over the fields. Now, she's older and quieter. She was gentle when I was riding her, now, she just kind of meanders where ever she wants. My dad has some kids come by to ride her every so often, as she's so gentle."

Penny snuggled her, and the horse seemed to return the feeling. "The other two are my parents. That one is a male and is my dad's, his name is King, the other is Kit, who my mom rode. Although, as Kisses got older, and I got better, I started riding Kit. I kinda took her from my mom. So, yeah, about that surprise."

"Showing me horses is the surprise?" asked Leonard.

Penny had a sly grin on her face, "Nah, we're going to ride."

Leonard looked aghast, "You mean, on a horse?"

Penny said, "Yes, on a horse, what else would you ride in here?"

"But…I…when…we…wait,…you mean…

"Close your mouth honey," said Penny. "You'll be riding Kisses."

"But, she's so big."

"Leonard, sweetie," said Penny, "KIDS ride her now. You'll be fine."

A half hour later, Penny and Leonard were heading toward the grassy field behind the building where the tractor was garaged. Penny had put both the saddles on both horses, then helped Leonard get on Kisses. Penny now had a large smile on her face, while Leonard looked terrified.

"Relax Leonard," said Penny. "We're walking slowly, you shouldn't even get bounced around, as slow as were moving."

Leonard tried to relax his legs and arms.

"Now look, see those trees?" said Penny.

Leonard tried to turn to see where Penny was pointing. He felt as if he was falling off the saddle, and wrapped his arms around Kisses neck. The horse made a gurgling sound and Penny said, "Leonard, let go of her neck, you're choking her."

By now, Leonard no longer felt as if he was falling, so he let go of the horse's neck, but grabbed the horn .

"Now," said Penny, "sit up straight."

Leonard did as he was told and he even got into the rhythm of the horse's gait. They were moving along very slowly. Penny, realized that Leonard would be able to handle the horse, at the slower speed. "I was trying to point out another farm we may go to, but we'll leave it for now, I don't want you falling off," she said with a grin.

They rode silently for a few minutes, finally Leonard said, "This isn't so bad." They were riding along a fence line. Penny could see while Leonard wasn't too sure about everything, he wasn't doing that bad.

After a few more minutes, Leonard said, "So why did your mother cut you off about your sister?"

"She probably knew what I was going to say," said Penny. "She's been struggling a bit. Her husband's son is in his late teens and he's getting into trouble. Her husband drinks and misses works, which causes him to lose jobs. She's been drinking a lot also. They also have their daughter. My mom wants everyone to think the family is perfect, but the different things that have gotten my brother and sister in trouble are well known around here, so I'm not sure why she bothers."

"What things?" asked Leonard. "You know, you haven't told me too much about her. How did you two get along?"

Penny thought back, "As kids, we got along good. We'd ride horses, have tea with our stuffed animals, take care of the baby animals we had, we played in the snow." She was smiling now, but started looking sad, "As we got older, we drifted apart. That's probably my fault. I got involved with a pretty wild crowd in high school, and I was a junior when she was a freshman. I didn't want anything to do with my uncool younger sister. She was pretty studious, in high school. It wasn't until after she got to college that she turned wild."

"What happened?" asked Leonard.

"I don't know. She kinda fell in with a wild group, in her first semester, sorta like I fell in with a wild group in high school. She dropped out, and just kinda ran around. After a few years of that, she got pregnant by this guy who was ten years older than her, who already had a kid, the mother had run off. Then they decided to get married, I don't think it was really all that good of an idea for them to do that. Remember I told you about her shooting her husband?" asked Penny.

"What?" said Leonard.

"I told you she shot her husband," said Penny

"No, you didn't," said Leonard. "I would have remembered that."

"Hmmmm, I could have sworn I told you," said Penny. She was thinking, "Maybe it was Raj, back when we first met. Anyway, they had been drinking, and her husband went to get some more beer. When he came back she was so drunk, almost passed out, and heard someone coming in the house. So, she grabbed her gun and shot at them.

She hit the six pack, it sprayed all over, but probably saved him. It deflected the bullet, and it only grazed her husband's hip, sorta like your toe. It woke their kids up, and they started screaming. They called an ambulance but the neighbors heard the kids screaming and they called the cops who came also. The EMTs took care of him, the cops arrested her for discharging a weapon."

"Wow."

"She's also the one that started Randall with drugs."

"How?"

"She got involved with that wild group at college, and they smoked marijuana, so she started using it. After I left, Randall stopped by her place while she was smoking it, and he wanted to try it, and she let him," said Penny. "After a while, he drifted off into using other drugs, then he started making them."

"Well, good thing you never got involved in it."

Penny didn't say anything for a bit. "Yes, I did."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **A/N Yeah, this is a rather longish chapter (almost 3000 words). The natural break in this chapter would have left me a short chapter, and a very short chapter. So, I just left them together. BTW, I own nothing except the words between the characters…Oh, and the two horses.**

"What?" said Leonard in shock. "You never told me that."

"It wasn't long, and it was just little bit," said Penny, " 'cause I didn't have the money once I got to California. I didn't have the money, there either, for that matter, but I found my mom's bag."

"Your mom's?" said Leonard, sounding incredulous. "What?"

"Hehehehehehe," said Penny. "You're finding out some of the family secrets. Yeah, my mom smoked it, she told me she was smoking it when she was pregnant with me, almost thirty years ago. Which is why her ragging on Randall for his stuff is so hypocritical."

"Randall reminds her of it when she brings up his problems, and it pisses her off. Not to mention how she's always so worried about the family image. But that's hypocritical also, since her and dad still use it. Well, now it's mostly for their aches and pains."

"Wyatt too?" said Leonard in disbelief.

"Yeah, him too," said Penny. "Leonard, I knew my parents smoked back when I moved out to California. I told you, what my mom told me about it when she was pregnant. I seventeen or so when I found their bag of it. I didn't have the money, so I took theirs. But, see, I couldn't take all that much from my parents, or they'd know, so I didn't do it too often here. Once I got out to California, Kurt and I were living on what I made, so we didn't have the money, and it was that often there either. After I broke up with Kurt and moved in across from you and Sheldon, I had even less money. So, my use wasn't all that much, for all that long."

Leonard was silent. This was all a bit much to take in. Oh, he knew quite a few people at the university that used it. Hell, he couldn't count the number of students and staff that had their weed card. But with Penny admitting it, along with finding out about her family, it was just unexpected for him.

"Have I upset you, Leonard?" said Penny. "Like I said I didn't do it too long, and I'm not sure it ever really affected me."

"Not really," said Leonard. "I mean I know a lot of people at Cal Tech that have their 'weed cards', so to speak," Leonard had made air quotes, "so I don't know why it should be a big deal for me. But, it's just a bit, I don't know, shocking to know you seemingly were a repeat user. I mean I could see you trying it, I know you were pretty wild. Not that it matters, but I get the impression that you haven't used it for a long time, right?"

"Yeah, it was before we met" said Penny. "The last time I remember was with some of Kurt's friends, a year or two before I met you". She paused for a few seconds and then added, "And nothing since I met you."

"Not that it's going to change anything between us," said Leonard. "I just kinda have to get used to the idea."

"How about we just change the subject?" Said Penny. "It's been so long I really don't want to think about it. It's just another thing, from my past, I've had to think about since I got back here.

Leonard said, "OK, what do you want to talk about."

"You're doing pretty good on that horse," said Penny.

Leonard looked down and chuckled, "I guess I am. I mean once I got used to matching the movement of the horse, it doesn't seem so bad."

"There's a reason for that," said Penny. "That horse is really gentle and moves very slowly. So, it's not all that hard to keep up with the movement and you're not getting bounced around."

"I think I could enjoy this," said Leonard. "Of course, I would probably have to have a horse like this."

"I don't know," said Penny. "If you ride on her, or one similar to her for a while, you would get it, and could move up to a horse that isn't quite so gentle, moves a bit faster. If you enjoy it, when we get back, could we look up a stable and find a place to ride. There's a couple in the foothills, north of Pasadena, and a couple north of Altadena, up by JPL."

"That might not be a bad idea," said Leonard, "but, we'll see. I am enjoying it."

"OK," said Penny with a grin. She looked at her watch. "For now, we have to head back to the barn. By the time we get there, take off the saddles and water the horses, it will be time for my friend to get here at 3:30."

Leonard nodded and they turned the horses around and began heading back to the barn.

Actually, it was 3:40 when Rosie rang the doorbell. "Hi Rosie," said Susan walking to the back door, "it's been too long since you've been over."

"I know," said Rosie, "I should come over and say hi to you, at least."

Susan opened the door, pointing as Rosie came in, "They are in the living room," said Susan.

"Thanks," said Rosie, turning and heading that way and walking into the room Rosie said, "Hi Penny."

Leonard looked up and had the uneasy feeling he'd seen her before. Then he remembered. She looked like Samwise's wife, from the Lord of the Rings movie, she even had the same name. Blond, with curls and a full face and her high cheekbones set off of her infectious smile. He smiled at her, and stood as Penny said, "Hi Rosie. Leonard, this is my friend Rosie, Rosie, this is my boyfriend Leonard."

"How do you do, Rosie," said Leonard, holding out his hand.

"No, you don't," said Rosie as she moved in to hug him. "If you're Penny's boyfriend, I get a hug."

She rushed toward Leonard, wrapping her arms around him. He looked surprised, but patted her back gently, looking at Penny, who just smiled at him. After about fifteen seconds, Rosie broke the hug.

Rosie sat down, "So, Penny tells me that you teach at Cal Tech."

"Actually," said Leonard, "I'm involved in research, using lasers, there. As a matter of fact, one of the students there needs my help with one of the experiments, a test of superposition. I just wanted to meet you, since you're Penny's friend," said Leonard as he rose. "I'll have to leave you ladies alone, as I've got a student to help." Leonard smiled at Rosie, rubbed Penny's back and headed for the stairs, the women watching him as he left.

"Wow," said Rosie, turning to Penny, "you weren't kidding. He's nothing like the guys you normally date. You're taller than he is, aren't you?"

"Yep," said Penny, "but not by much. I usually wear flats now, I don't like to make him feel short. When I'm in flats, or we're both barefoot, you really can't tell the difference. I've come to appreciate being around the same height. It's handy when we kiss, I don't get a crick in my neck now."

"It doesn't matter," said Rosie, "you're both the same height laying down, right?"

Penny had a sly grin, "Actually, at times, he's taller."

Penny and Rosie both broke into laughter. Then Rosie asked, "What is this superposition he mentioned?"

"It's got something to do with Quantum Mechanics," said Penny. "The best way I can explain it is this: suppose you have a cat in a box. Inside the box, is a vial of poison, and we know it will break open, but we don't know when. So, for someone outside the box, they don't know if the cat is dead or alive."

"Since they don't know, they can consider the cat both alive and dead. It's called superposition because it's both. The only way you can know for sure, is to look in the box. A guy named Schrödinger thought it up, it's called a thought experiment. The experiment Leonard is doing has to do with the location of little particles called electrons. They aren't cats, but you get the idea. In the case of the electrons, they act as both particles and waves."

"How does that happen?"

"I really don't know that part," said Penny, "it's got something to do with what's called the double slit experiment. You can shoot the individual electrons, but if you have both slits open, you get a wave pattern, like electrons are waves. If you only have one slit open, you get individual electron locations. So, are they particles or waves? They appear to be both, there are in superposition, until you measure them with either one or two slits. Like the cat is both dead or alive, until you open the box."

In the kitchen, Susan heard Penny's explanation and smiled. Rosie was looking at Penny in amazement. "Where did you learn all that?"

"From Leonard," said Penny, "and his friends, well my friends too. His roommate, is a bit weird, but he's got a Phd also. He reminds me of Bert, which is why I say Leonard is my Ernie. Another one of his friends has a PhD in astrophysics and the other has a Masters in Engineering. Two of my friends are the wife of the engineer and the girlfriend of his roommate, both of them have a PhD also."

"So," said Rosie, "did you learn that thing about cats from them or from Leonard?"

"Heheheheh," chuckled Penny, "on our first date we were both kind of nervous, not sure if we should go out together. I asked his roommate whether he thought it was a good idea for us to go out, since as we were friends, there might not be anything there, and we might mess up our friendship. He gave me the explanation of the cat. He meant that the only way we could know for sure, was to go out, open the box, so to speak. Well, Leonard came to pick me up, and we were still both nervous. He just kissed me, there was something there, I said the cat was alive and we went out."

"Holy shit. So you went from someone like Kurt, and skipping school, to these people? How do you fit in there?"

Penny chuckled, "I don't really."

"They sound so strange."

"Hehehehe," chuckled Penny. "That's nothing, you should have seen him when I first met him. All of the guys, really. They are all a bunch of geeks."

"Bunch of geeks?" asked Rosie guardedly.

"Yeah, they had very little social skills," said Penny. "I taught them most of what they know, socially. I like to say when I first met him, Leonard wouldn't look me in the eye, it was either down at his shoes, or up in the air. I couldn't believe it, I mean, grown men, reading comic books."

"Comic books?"

"Yeah," said Penny, "you know, comic books about superheroes, the kind they make movies about. They also had Star Trek, and Star Wars stuff, and collectibles, games, all that crap."

"Sound's like you know a lot about it all," said Rosie.

"I guess I do," said Penny. "If you spend enough time around it, you start to remember all of it. I am in no way into it like they are, but I picked things up here and there, now I know about it, I guess "

Rosie let out a loud laugh, "You're right, you do pick it up."

Penny looked puzzled, "What?"

Rosie reached for her purse, she found what she wanted and handed Penny a picture, "Here, here's a picture of my husband."

Penny looked at the picture, puzzled. There was a guy with a rugged face, with glasses. He had brown wavy hair and brown eyes. He looked a little like Leonard, and he had t-shirt with the Green Lantern symbol on it. "What…who…when…."

"Hehehehe, you look confused," said Rosie.

"He looks a bit like Leonard, and what's with the Green Lantern shirt?" Penny asked.

"Oh," Rosie said, looking at Penny slyly, "How do you know it's the Green Lantern?"

"By the green symbol," said Penny. "The circle with the two lines, on above and one below."

"So you do know about it."

"Yeah, some," said Penny, "after all, I've been with Leonard as a friend or my boyfriend for seven years. Like I said, I picked things up." Again, in the kitchen, Susan smiled.

"Heheheheheh" chuckled Rosie with a sly smile, "well…let's just say our husband's would get along."

"Why would you say that?"

"My husband owns a Comic Book store," said Rosie"

"What?"

"Yeah, I found my own Ernie," laughed Rosie.

Penny chuckled, "I guess you did, just like me. Who'd have thought we both would end up with a couple of geeks? Oh, we **have** to get them together."

"When are you leaving?"

"Four or five days, why?" asked Penny.

"Then they won't meet on this trip," said Rosie. "He's at a comic book convention, New York, I think, and then he's going to see his mother in Florida."

"Oh, that's too bad, I'd like to see them get together."

"Yeah, so would I," said Rosie.

Penny was looking at Rosie with a smile.

"What?" Asked Rosie.

"Nothing," said Penny. "It's just so good to see you. It's been so long."

"I know," said Rosie, "I has been too long."

"I miss you," said Penny. "Looking around here, since I've been back, I've been overcome with memories. And seeing you I'm kinda sad that we lost all those years, just because we both wanted Ernie. I'd like to get those back."

Rosie chuckled, "Especially since with both found our own Ernie."

Penny laughed. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," said Rosie. "Just make sure we exchange phone numbers and e-mails. Anyway, tell me about California."

"No," said Penny, "you know how I met Leonard, you have to tell me how you met your husband, and how you ended up married first.

"He's been very good for me. You remember how wild I was, hell you were wild too, said Rosie laughing. When we first met, he wouldn't look at me either, although he didn't seem to have a problem with others. His friend was dating my roommate, and we just kind of hung out with them. Or, if there was a something special to go to, it would be me and him going with our friends, sorta like a double date. But, like you said, he was a geek and I didn't find him all that interesting, at the beginning."

"It took almost two years before we went out on a date, and I had to ask him. But, to be honest, if I hadn't had those two years to get to know him, I probably wouldn't have gone out with him."

"That sounds like me, with Leonard," said Penny. "It was as I got to know him, that I began to appreciate him."

"You do sound like me. Over those two years I found he could make me laugh, and was considerate, basically, he was a nice guy, something I wasn't used to. Let me tell you though, when we did go out, ho boy, we were good together. The sex was great, and we always helping the other out. He was patient with me, helped me see the way I was living really wasn't good. Got me to go to college and get my associates degree."

"I helped loosen him up a bit, and got him to pay more attention to the financial part of his shop. We finally moved in together, then we got married. We eloped, ran off to Lincoln. I just don't know where I'd be without him. Like I said, I wanted an Earnie, and I found him."

Penny was quiet, thinking about Leonard, "Sounds like you got a good one, Rosie."

"I think so."

"That's the way I feel about Leonard," said Penny. "We rag on each other all the time, but we really do love each other."

"So, when are you getting married?"

"I'm not there yet," said Penny slowly. "I'm working on it."

"Well, you better hurry or if he's as good as you say he is, someone may jump in ahead of you. That almost happened with me. That first date? I had to ask him out, because he had gone out with a couple of other women. I didn't know if he was serious about them, and I didn't want to take a chance."

Penny, thought about Priya and Alex, and choked up for a second. She composed herself and changed the subject.

"Let me tell you more about California and acting."

Rosie said, "Please do, I want to hear all about it."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 **A/N Nothing to say, except I don't own anything except the words between the character names.**

Leonard was sitting by himself in the kitchen, with a glass of tea, papers spread out in front of him. Susan and Wyatt were going out for some sort of co-op get together, and he and Penny were going out, Penny said she had a surprise for dinner. Susan and Penny were upstairs getting ready. He was going over the results of the experiment his graduate student Julie was doing, when Wyatt walked in.

"Hey Leonard," said Wyatt, "where are Susan and Penny?"

Leonard looked up, "They're upstairs, getting showers and getting ready for tonight."

Wyatt chuckled, "So, we have another hour or so."

Leonard shook his head, "Heheheheh, I don't think so, they've already been up there for quite a while already."

"What have you got there," Asked Wyatt.

"Experiment results," said Leonard. "From my graduate student."

Wyatt looked at the papers and was completely lost. "I don't know how you can understand all that. I guess that's why you picked up everything here so quick." Wyatt looked at him, "You could probably fill in for me."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

Wyatt paused, then sat down, "Leonard, it's really good to see you here. I really haven't had a chance to talk to you about it, but I can't tell you how happy I was when you called to ask about ideas on where to take Penny out on a date. I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen."

"Well, Wyatt," said Leonard, "I wasn't too sure it was going to happen either."

"I was really disappointed to hear you were dating that Indian woman."

Leonard was surprised, "How did you know about that?"

"Penny."

"Penny?"

Wyatt paused for a moment, he looked puzzled. "Leonard," he said, "I'm not sure how to say this, so please don't take offense."

"I won't."

"I was really disappointed in you," Wyatt said. "I had asked you to keep trying with her, and I found out you were dating someone else, it was like you gave up. That first time Penny called about it, she was drunk and crying about how you just started dating some smart and beautiful woman, from India, and she didn't even know where you had met her."

Leonard looked down and said, "I started dating one of my friend's sister, Penny knows him also, and as you know, they are from India. She is a lawyer and was going to be in LA for an extended time. We had a brief relationship a few years earlier, it was before I even met Penny and a one night stand after Penny and I broke up. Actually, that was a month before you came to LA. Anyway, she was going to be there for a while, we talked about it, and decided we'd try it again. You do remember Penny was quite clear about us not getting back together again, when you were there."

Wyatt nodded.

"Which is why I didn't see a problem with dating the other girl."

"Well," said Wyatt, "I can see that, from your point of view. But damn it, I was so disappointed and Penny was really down for about a month or two, then things seem to get a little better."

"Yeah," said Leonard, "The girlfriends of two of the other guys started hanging out with her. Kind of kept her settled down."

"At the beginning," said Wyatt, "while you were going out with that woman, Penny would get upset and then she would call us, once, twice, sometimes three times a week, most times crying and drunk, telling us about how she screwed up when she broke up with you, and how she'd lost you forever. She would go on and on like that."

"I'm sure those other women tried, but, it didn't always help," said Wyatt. "She would still call, usually once a week or so, still crying, still drinking. Which I guess is better than two or three times a week."

Leonard was surprised to hear this, Penny hadn't told him that. "Wyatt," he said, "Penny hasn't told me any of this, so if you would, don't tell me any more."

Wyatt shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Well," said Wyatt, "can I tell you my feelings when I found out?"

Leonard felt uneasy about it, but nodded his head for Wyatt to continue.

"I mean when Penny was dating you," said Wyatt, "she was working, seemed to be straightening her life out. I thought, she was succeeding. Then she broke up with you and she started having problems again, although I hear you were still helping her with money. Things like rent, electric, food."

Leonard nodded again. "I still cared for her Wyatt, but she made it clear we weren't going to date. So I just kind of tried to move on, and helped where I could."

"She was so wild here in high school," said Wyatt. "then she seemed to buckle down when she went to college. But, that ended when Kurt convinced her to go to LA and she was back to being wild, but I put that down to Kurt. After you started dating that other woman, she started drinking again, and started working less because she was hungover."

"She would call home when she was drunk, sometime she would ask for money, that's how I found out she was missing work. Then, she said she found two new friends, must have been those two women you mentioned. Said she wasn't dating you, or anyone for that matter. That went on for six or seven months."

"Those six-seven months was when I was dating the woman from India," said Leonard. "She wanted to keep me from seeing Penny. She was jealous of her, I suppose. Worried about us getting back together, I guess there was something to that."

"I always thought you two would get back together," said Wyatt. "From the way Penny talked about you, from what you did for her. There seemed to be a connection between you two."

"Yeah, I think there was," said Leonard. "But, with Penny not giving me any signals she wanted to get back together, I started dating the other woman. We got to the point where we started to move in together, were talking about me going to visit her family, but then, accidentally, I found out she was going back to India, something she hadn't told me."

"That must have been a shock."

"It was," said Leonard. "I thought we were breaking up, but we talked and decided to see if we could keep it going long distance."

"Doesn't look like it worked out."

"It was a bit weird," said Leonard. "We were Skyping, things were, I wouldn't say great, but it was sorta working. Then I met another woman and we ended up kissing, I even went to Penny to find out how to keep it going with my girlfriend, and start something up with he new one."

Leonard didn't see the strange look Wyatt gave him.

"Didn't matter though," said Leonard, "I went to her place and we started kissing. We were probably going to have sex, but I stopped it. I felt guilty, so I left, went home and called the woman from India to admit it and apologize, and found out she had slept with her ex-boyfriend. I was mad at her, even though I knew what I did wasn't much better, just a matter of degree. We both realized that the long distance thing wasn't really working, or wasn't going to work, so we just ended it."

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

"It was right around that time when Penny called one day," said Wyatt, "wasn't drinking, but I could barely understand her, she was crying so hard. Sounded really upset. Said she couldn't stay in California, and wanted to move back here. I asked her why, but she wouldn't tell me. Do you know what happened?"

"I think so," said Leonard remembering that morning, "but that's something she'll have to tell you. I don't think it's my place to say anything."

"OK," said Wyatt. "It had me puzzled because it was about a week later when she called and said she got a part in a commercial, and moving back here wasn't mentioned again.

"Like I said, that's up to her."

"OK, forget it."

"Penny and I had kept our friendship going," said Leonard. "A month or so after I broke up with the other woman, we went out one night. It was supposed to be just two friends hanging out, but we both got jealous when we were approached by others. Made me realize she may still have feelings for me. So a few weeks later, I happened to see her though her open apartment door. She happened to be wearing the same shirt she was wearing the first time I saw her. I thought about all our history, and thought, what the hell, and I went over and asked her out."

"I'm just so glad you didn't give up, thanks. Things seem to be back to normal with her," said Wyatt. "She was telling us about how you were both working on things and everything seems to be going good."

"Yes, it is," said Leonard. "There were things that were problems that first year we were together. I never had had a long term relationship, and I don't think Penny every had a relationship with someone like me. So there were major adjustments. After we got back together, we tried to work through those and it took a while. You know about the times I've proposed, but it still freaked her out. So, I told her it was up to her, she was going to have to propose.

"Really? I didn't know that."

"I told her that. This way, instead of me continuing to propose, when she's not ready, now, I'm just waiting for her to propose, when she's ready. It's all up to her."

"Hmmmmmm, maybe I should talk to her," said Wyatt.

"No, don't," said Leonard, "don't push her, let her do it when she's comfortable. I have a secret for you so you can't say anything. I do have a ring, so when she proposes, I can surprise her with it."

Wyatt chuckled, "That's nice. One thing I used to be worried about, but I don't worry about it anymore, is Penny being pregnant when she does get married."

Leonard looked puzzled and embarrassed.

"I figure you two have been using something to keep from getting pregnant. And, as you know, she wasn't a nun here. Yet, she didn't get pregnant here either. So she seems to be pretty smart about that."

Leonard still looked puzzled, but said, "OK, I guess that makes sense."

"It's just the it will be different from the rest of the family, that's all," said Wyatt.

"What do you mean?"

Well, Penny's sister was pregnant when she got married," said Wyatt. "Susan was pregnant when we got married. Susan's mother was pregnant with Susan, when she got married. Hell, even my sister and mother were pregnant when they got married."

Leonard looked shocked. Wyatt chuckled, "Close you mouth son. Look, Penny, all our kids really, Susan and I for that matter, didn't fall far from the tree. Susan and I were pretty wild ourselves when we were their age."

Leonard smiled inwardly, remembering what Penny had told him earlier about her parents.

Wyatt said,"I told you Susan was pregnant when we got married. Penny was a surprise to us, and yes she knows."

"Most kids get wild, but as parents you try to pass down your experience, and hope for the best. Didn't work with Susan and I. But we were forced to grow up quick between the farm and the kid. It didn't work with our kids, but in finding you, Penny seems to have outgrown her wild side before getting trapped by it, like her sister and brother seem to be trapped by it. So, thanks for that son."

Leonard smiled and nodded.

"You have to have patience Leonard," said Wyatt. "I've talked to her and I know she's getting there. She really does love you, but you have to give her time to work it all out on her own. If you try to push her, she'll just close up."

"Hehehehehe," chuckled Leonard. "I know that all too well, that's why I told her she has to propose. She isn't there yet, so when she gets there, I'm already ready."

"Leonard," they could hear Penny yell. "Where are you?"

"Down here in the kitchen," said Leonard raising his voice.

"Remember Leonard," said Wyatt, "give her time, be patient."

"Oh, hi daddy," said Penny as she entered the kitchen.

"Hi slugger."

"You should have seen Leonard today daddy. He was on Kisses, and we took a short ride into the back pasture."

Wyatt looked at Leonard. "Really, did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah," said Leonard. "but it was just a slow ride. I got the feeling that Penny would have been going much faster."

"That's how you start," said Wyatt. "If you pick up that, as fast as you've picked up the rest of the farm stuff, you be galloping in no time. Well, I've got to head up to get ready. You two have a good night."

"Bye, daddy."

"Bye, Wyatt."

"You ready to go," said Penny.

"Yes," said Leonard, "where are we going?"

"I'll explain as we go," said Penny. "Just remember, it's Monday night."

They headed out of the door, and to their car and a half an hour later they were parked in front of a what appeared to be a closed restaurant. Leonard wanted to chuckle at the name, 'Mai Thai', but Penny looked so disappointed he simply asked, "So, what do we do, now?"

Penny had a frown on her face, "I'm sorry Leonard, I though since tonight was Thai food night, I could take you to a Thai place here. Didn't know they were closed on Mondays. But, except for this one, I don't know where any others are, although I'm sure Omaha itself has a bunch, we could look up several."

"That's OK," said Leonard, "I'm really hungry, can we just find a place as we drive?"

"Drive where?"

"I don't know," said Leonard, looking sideways at Penny, "You're the one that lived around here, you tell me where we're likely to find a place."

Penny started laughing, "Sorry, Leonard. Go out the road where we came in and when you get to the main road light, turn right. There's a bunch of restaurants in that direction."

Leonard turned and followed the road for about a mile, he spotted a sign and suddenly turned into that parking lot.

"What are you doing?" said Penny.

"I thought we could eat here," said Leonard.

"We can't," said Penny.

"Of course we can," said Leonard. "Why do you say we can't?"

Penny looked embarrassed, and looked down.

"What's the problem?"

"Leonard," said Penny, "I was thrown out of this place, and told not to come back."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **A/N. As usual for me, I looked and all the restaurants mentioned are really in the area of Bennington/ West Omaha and near the farm I'm using as Penny's parents.**

"You were thrown out of a Chiles?" said Leonard in surprise.

"Yes," said Penny, "two, actually, this one, and another one further down the road."

"When?"

"It was a few months after I started going out with Kurt," said Penny. "Kurt and I came here for dinner, we got thrown out and told we were banned from coming back."

"Come on, Penny," said Leonard," That's ten years ago, you don't really think anyone that was here then, would still be here now, do you?"

"No, I guess not," said Penny. "OK, let's go, I'm getting hungry."

"Wait, what were you doing that go you banned?" asked Leonard.

"I don't want to say."

Leonard looked at her with a slight smile on his face, "Let me guess, you were doing something like you did with Mike, in all those other public places. Except here you got caught." Leonard now had an evil grin on his face, "Was your head above or below the table?"

"Just shut up," said Penny. "It's not of your damned business." Leonard just laughed.

"What did you did in the other one to get banned?" asked Leonard.

"I said, just shut up," growled Penny.

Leonard kept looking at Penny, until finally she said, "Fine. It was before I met Kurt and found the guy I was dating making out with another girl. So, I started screaming at both of them, they screamed back, we both started throwing water and food at each other. I guess we kinda made a scene. So, they banned all of us. Happy?"

Leonard just left it there, but he was chuckling. He led Penny into the restaurant.

Forty-five minutes later, they were sitting across from each other in a booth, and had just finished their burgers, trying to decide if they wanted a desert. "See," said Leonard, "I told you no one would remember."

Penny looked around, nodding. "Yeah, I guess I had nothing to worry about, I just thought…shit." Leonard looked up to see Penny slumping in her seat.

"What's wrong?"

"I just saw somebody," said Penny.

"Penny, is that you?" Leonard heard someone call from behind him. He started to turn around.

"Don't look," said Penny. "And just remember that whatever happens in the next few minutes, it has nothing to do with me now."

Leonard thought that was odd, but he didn't have time to think about it as a guy stopped at the table. Looking at him, he reminded Leonard of a smaller version of Kurt. Similar facial features, though not as tall, not quite as many muscles. _But_ , thought Leonard, _still larger and much more muscular than me._

The guy didn't even look at Leonard. "It is you Penny. When did you get back in town?"

"Well I…"

"Jeez, it's so good to see you," he said, "how have you been?"

"Well, I…"

"I can't believe you're back," said the man. "Where's Kurt?"

"I broke up with him years ago," said Penny, "I want…"

"Really?" said the man looking excited, "well, if you're going to be in town for a while, maybe we can go out…"

Leonard looked pained, which Penny noticed. Here was another guy hitting on her, with Leonard right there, but she wasn't going to put up with it.

"…I mean we were pretty good together before Kurt showed up, even if you did sleep with my brother."

"Donny," said Penny, " I will not go out with you." Penny pointed at Leonard. "I want you to meet Leonard, I met him right after I broke up with Kurt and we have been going out since." Leonard looked at Penny, she continued, "I love him. Leonard, this is Donny, I used to go out with him, and his brother."

Leonard didn't want to, but wanting to be polite for Penny, held out his hand. Donny looked down at Leonard with distain, and then back at Penny.

"You say you've been going out with him for years?"

"Yes, Donnie," said Penny, "about six years."

"I don't see a ring," said Donnie. "You've been going with him for six years and you're not even engaged?"

By her look, Leonard knew Penny was getting angry.

"You quit seeing Kurt, for this guy?" asked Donny.

Leonard could now see Penny gritting her teeth. "Yes," said Penny. "This guy has treated me better than any of the guys around here."

"Not me," said Donny, "I treated you like a queen. I did everything for you."

Leonard could see her eyes flare, "What are you talking about. Did you forget the time you got mad at me, asked me to check on a tire, to get me out of the car. Then left me on the side of the road?" Penny was getting louder now.

"Or, you getting a ride after your car broke down, you two getting drunk and leaving me there, until I walked back to town? Or the time you took the money out of my room I had saved up to buy a prom dress?" Penny was practically screaming at him now.

"Or, coming over to my house and telling my parents where we had gone the last weekend, when I told them I was at a girlfriends, to get back at me for not putting out for you? You treated me like shit, and I don't know why I put up with it."

"Oh, yeah," yelled Donny. "What about the time you fucked my brother, and then told me just after we finished fucking? What about that, slut."

Penny jumped up, and Leonard had just enough time to jump up and step between them. Penny was pointing at Donny over Leonard's shoulder, "Just leave me alone you bastard, Leonard is ten times the man you are."

"Keep talking, slut."

Leonard wasn't sure he was going to be able to keep Penny from attacking the guy, but a man walked up to stand beside Leonard, looking at all of them, "Excuse me, I'm the manager here and I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave. We can't have this kind of behavior here."

"Yes, sir," said Leonard, holding on to Penny's arm. "Let me pay our bill, leave a tip, and we'll leave."

The manager nodded at Leonard. Donny looked ready to say something else, but the manager grabbed Donny by the arm, guiding him, complaining, toward the door. Leonard and Penny gathered their things and went to the cashier. Leonard paid the bill, added a hefty tip and they turned to leave.

The manager was waiting by the door for them. "Please don't come back here again." Penny started giggling and the manager looked at her sternly, then continued. "We don't want trouble here. I made sure the other guy has left, so you can leave without worrying him being in the parking lot."

Leonard nodded and with Penny holding on to his arm, walked out of the door.

They left the parking lot, Leonard was quiet, waiting for Penny to say something. When she didn't, he asked, "You want to stop and get a drink? So we can talk about this?"

Penny did't say anything, and Leonard gently pushed her, "Penny?"

"Just take me home, we can get a beer there."

"No, we can't," said Leonard. "Your dad said he needed to get some more beer, tomorrow."

Penny angrily said, "Fine, then find a place."

Leonard started looking for a place. He saw a sign, Ryan's Food and Sprits and he slowed down, then pulled into the parking lot.

They found a booth in the back corner of the bar and ordered a wine for Penny and a beer for Leonard. Penny was quiet, while waiting for their drinks. Their waitress brought their drinks, Leonard paying for them, and tipping.

After they each took a drink, Penny finally said, "I'm sorry, Leonard."

"It was kind of nice to hear you defending me," said Leonard. "I'm used to guys hitting on you and you not saying anything, It was kind of nice."

"Yes, Leonard," said Penny with an edge to her voice, "I know, you've told me that before." Penny pause and continued with a softer tone. "I'm sorry Leonard, I'm mad at myself, I shouldn't take it out on you."

"If we're traveling around here, we may run into others and you may hear some stories of my more wild moments. I didn't think there would be a problem. I figured no one would remember or care. I didn't think we'd be seeing people who would bring them up. Looks like I was wrong."

"That's not a problem Penny," said Leonard. "I've know you didn't live like a nun. So unless you have something really offensive, I don't think there will be a problem. After all, I found out you smoked marijuana today, and I'm already past that. Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why were your giggling when we got kicked out of the restaurant?"

Penny giggled again, "I just thought about getting kicked out of there so many years ago, and the first night I'm back in there, I get kicked out again." Leonard had to chuckle at that.

"Leonard," said Penny, "Donny was someone I hung out with in high school. Yes we slept together, and yes I slept with his brother while I was with Donny. I'm not proud of that, OK. Do you remember when my dad came to LA and was talking about the guy who tried to put pig poop in his mom's car?"

Leonard nodded.

"Well, he's the one."

"Him?" said Leonard. "Why did you break up with him?"

"Like I said, he didn't treat me well, and I went over to his house to see him. He wasn't there, but his brother was. He told me he was out with someone else. He listened to me, made me feel better, agreed Donnie was a jerk and we started making out." Penny sighed, "I ended up in bed with Donnie's brother, probably as a revenge thing, and no one was happy with any of that," she said dejectedly.

"Penny," said Leonard, "how about we just don't worry about it? We'll finish our drinks, head home, and get an early start tomorrow. You said you'd take me around tomorrow."

Penny reached out and clinked her glass against his beer. They sat there talking for another half hour, finishing their drinks. Penny explained a couple of places they would be going to, tomorrow. They had finished and they started to leave, and just after getting out of the door, but still under the canopy, Leonard heard Penny say, "Damnit."

 _Now what_ thought Leonard.

"Penny," said a woman walking up to them. Looking at her Leonard saw a very attractive, very tall, brunette, who looked vaguely familiar.

"Hi Kari," said Penny.

"How are you doing?" said Kari.

Penny looked at Leonard, "I…um…we…"

"Penny," said Kari, "I know you broke up with Kurt. It's OK."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," said Kari. "To be honest, I never could figure out why you were with him, or why it took so long to break up with him. How's acting going?"

"I'm sorry Kari," said Penny. "I kind of thought that you would take Kurt's side, so I kept my distance. I want to introduce you to Dr Leonard Hofstadter, he's my boyfriend. He does research at Cal Tech"

"Nice to meet you Leonard," said Kari looking over Leonard. "You did good Penny. So how's the acting going?"

"Still struggling," said Penny, "still working as a waitress to pay the bills. How are you doing?"

"Still working at the bank," said Kari. "I'm the head cashier now and getting some training as an investment executive."

Penny didn't really want to ask, but thought she needed to be polite,"How's Kurt? I haven't seen him in about five or six years."

"Still a jerk," said Kari. "A couple of years ago he got arrested for beating up his girlfriend. Then he got in trouble for something and got arrested again. As far as I know he's still in LA, but to be honest, I don't keep up with him anymore. He was a jerk to our mother. All he does is write home, asking for money, I just disregard him."

"I really mean you did good Penny. That could have been you he was beating up." Kari looked at Leonard, her eyes twinkling, and said, "Leonard's kinda cute, Penny, keep him around. Well, I got to run, I'm meeting my husband. Take care Penny, nice to meet you Leonard. Bye."

"Bye," said Penny and Leonard.

"So, I'm guessing some relative of Kurt's," said Leonard.

"Yeah," said Penny, "his sister. Evidently, she was always on my side, I just didn't know it. I didn't know Kurt was a jerk to his family or even where he's been."

"Sounds like he just imploded," said Leonard.

"Actually, I really don't care," said Penny. "I asked to be polite, but he's no longer a part of my life, and I really don't care about what he's doing or what he's become. So let's just stop and head home." And with that, Penny headed off toward the car, Leonard had to trot to catch up. They both got into the car, and headed back to Penny's parent's house.

 **A/N I was just so amused by the name of the Thai restaurant (Mai Thai, pronounced like the drink) that when I realized it was also Thai food night, I just had to use it.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 **A/N. I really don't have an Author's Note here, and I haven't done a disclaimer in two chapters, so, go back and read the disclaimer from chapters 3, 5, or 7** **.**

Leonard rolled over, reaching for Penny, and not finding her, opened his eyes. She wasn't in the bed, so he rolled back over, to look at the clock. It was just before 8 AM, _Damn, she has no problem getting up early here, what's up with that?_

Leonard rolled out of the bed, heading to the bathroom and after his morning rituals, he got dressed and headed downstairs. Half-way down, he could smell the bacon and thought _I could get used to this_.

He got to the kitchen and just like the previous morning, there were Penny and her parents at the table.

"Boy," said Penny with a grin, raising her coffee cup at him, "looks like living on a farm makes you lazy. Sleeping later than I do."

"Yeah, Yeah," he said, waving his hand at her dismissively.

"So, you want breakfast?"

"Sure."

"OK, sit down," said Penny, "and I'll get it for you. Oh, before you sit, can you get your own juice and coffee?"

"Sure"

"How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled," said Leonard

"Got it, all we have is bacon this morning" said Penny putting the bread in the toaster. Leonard started pouring this coffee and juice, while Penny worked on his eggs and bacon. Soon they were both back at the table, Penny drinking another cup of coffee, Leonard eating his breakfast.

"So," said Leonard, "what are we doing today?"

"I had planned on taking you around to my schools," said Penny, "you know, like you did when visited your father a couple of years ago. But, my mom asked me to do a couple of errands for her, and she thought you could come with me."

"Hey, wait a minute," said Wyatt. "I was going to take him around and show him more of how the farm operates."

"Why would you do that?" asked Penny.

"I don't know," said Wyatt evasively, "I thought I'd give him a bit more insight into what it takes to run a farm."

"Why would he need to do that? It's not like he's going to be a farmer" said Penny. "He can come with me."

"Why don't we ask him?" said Wyatt.

"Let him go with Penny," said Susan. "Gives him a chance to see the area."

Wyatt, looked disappointed, but said, "OK. Well, even if Leonard isn't coming, I have to get some things done. You two have a good time." Wyatt took his cup to the sink, and then waked out the back door.

"So, what errands do we have to do?"

"I'm going to get a few things for dinner the next couple of nights. My mom needs some things from the fabric store, and a couple of other things at the discount store." said Penny. "And, she also has some things that need to be taken to the church, for a yard sale, and something to take to one of her friends."

"Let me get another cup of coffee and we can head out." Said Leonard.

"While you get that, I'll go get ready," said Penny.

A half hour later, Penny was giving Leonard directions on how to get to Bennington. Penny explained it was a small town about two miles from the house. Most of the time, that is where they went when they needed something. While small, it had several of the major stores, because of the farms all around it, making it usually easy for them to get something. It's also where Penny had gone to school.

"So, are we going to see the schools tomorrow?" said Leonard.

"Yeah, I didn't know we would be doing all this today" said Penny. "Mom asked me to run all these errands this morning, and it does give you a chance to see more of the area. What I really think, is she just wants to show you off."

"Me?" Said Leonard.

"Yeah, you," said Penny. "I told you about my sister, and you know about Randall. You are someone my mom can point to as something good for the family. You've seen how worried she is about the families reputation. All these places we need to stop at are places she knows people, and she pointedly ask that I take you along."

Leonard was a bit surprised.

"I'm sorry Leonard," said Penny. "Her one friend is quite a gossip and by taking things to the church, it will let you be seen by some of mom's other friends. I'm sure you'll get questioned or I'll get questioned about you. Please just laugh it off, OK?"

Leonard chuckled, "Of course, it will make you happy, and your mother happy, I can handle it for a few hours, I think."

"Thank you," said Penny.

"So, where is this church located."

Leonard was bemused after stopping at the church. He was asked various questions about his work. All the ladies were impressed by where he worked, and that he had a PhD. Penny also seemed to go up in their estimation after meeting Leonard. Especially after Penny told all of them that Leonard's title is Doctor. Overall, it was pretty gentle, and he seem to have won their approval.

It was different with Susan's friend. She was critical about his work not being in the Bible, about how they were sleeping together in sin, his disbelief in a supreme being, and about how short he was. She was also critical of Penny for moving out to the sinful city of LA and about how she now lived in that sinful state, and was living in sin. They learned all this less than two minutes after introducing Leonard. Penny had no wish to stay there at all, and she was getting angry, so she basically empty the trunk quickly, so they could go.

They were just out of the driveway and were headed to the fabric store when Penny said, "Well, that was unpleasant."

"Yeah," said Leonard, "that was a bit awkward. Was she always so mean?"

"I don't know if it's meanness," said Penny. "I think it's more that she's an old gossip, where no one else is worth anything, except for her."

"Yeah, well, she's a mean old bitch."

Penny started laughing, "She must have made a bad impression, that's not like you at all, but I can't disagree with you there. However, she's my mom's friend, and I have to be nice to her."

"Heheheheheh," chuckled Leonard. "At least were done with her."

Their stop at the fabric store went well. Penny didn't run into anyone she knew and she was hoping they could do the same at their next two stops. There were some cleaning supplies at a discount store Susan had wanted, and their final stop was to be the grocery store, to pick up some things for dinner for the next two nights.

They almost avoided a problem at the discount store, but as they were coming out, a tall guy, with curly dark hair yelled out, "Hey, Penny."

Penny looked around and when she saw him, she immediately got a worried look on her face.

Leonard noticed it, and said, "Something wrong?"

Penny sighed, "Yes, but just play along."

Leonard looked over the guy as he walked up. He was tall, _why were all of Penny's ex's so damn tall?_ He was wearing a baseball hat backwards, and had several tattoos on his neck. Ignoring Leonard, he said to Penny, "How's Los Angeles? Or did you move back."

"LA is fine, I'm just here for a visit. Larry, this is…"

"How's your acting career going? Must be good, I saw you in a commercial, riding a horse.

"I'm doing OK, see…"

Must be doing more than OK to get a commercial like that. Hey, have you met anyone in the music industry?"

"No, I haven't," said Penny. "Larry, this is…"

"Where's Kurt."

"Larry, Kurt and I broke up years ago. I started dat…" said Penny.

"Reeeeeaaalllllyyyyy, that's interesting," said Larry.

"Whaaaa…?" Asked Penny.

"Well, since you're free, how about going out with me while you're here? After all, we almost had a kid."

Leonard turned to look at Penny,

"WE DID NOT almost have a baby," said Penny, anger in her voice. " I had a negative pregnancy test. You were sitting there on my bed with me when I took the test. A negative test is not almost having a kid. And, I am not free," Penny reached out and grabbed Leonard's arm, pulling him close. "this is my boyfriend, Leonard."

Larry looked over Leonard, a look of disdain on his face. "Him?" "Come on Penny, look at him. I've got a job at the parts store, hell, I'm almost a manager. And I'm getting closer to getting a gig for my rapping."

Leonard, could hear the anger in Penny's voice, "Yes, him. Part's store? Almost a manager? Close to getting a gig? Pffft. Leonard is an experimental physicist at Cal Tech. The proper way to address is not 'him', it is Doctor, he has his PhD."

"Oooooooohhhh, when did you get so smart?" said Larry. "Only hanging out with smart people now, huh? How does someone who got such bad grades in school, get with someone smart like him? Did he take pity on you?"

"NO," said Penny, almost yelling. "I see good people now. I have friends who treat me good. People who do things for me without expecting anything. I date guys who don't demand sex from me, date me without pressuring me. This man did things for me, without pressuring me for sex, until I offered it. Things none of my other boyfriends ever did for me. He's a good man, and I only see good men now."

"Good men?" Said Larry derisively. "Does this 'good man' know that you almost had a kid with me?"

"I told you…"

"Actually, he does," interjected Leonard. Penny turned to Leonard, looking surprised.

"Actually, he does," said Larry, making a face and his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Awwwwwwww, forget it. Be with your small man." He looked down at Leonard. "He's probably small everywhere." With that, Larry flexed his arms, spun around and walked off.

"Come on, Leonard," said Penny. Pulling him by the arm toward the car, It was quiet, until they got in the car. Penny put her hand on Leonards arm and said, "I sorry Leonard. And thank you for backing me up. How did you know?"

Leonard got a slight smile, "I didn't, but you told me to play along. I figured if I said I knew, he would leave it alone. What was that all about?"

"It was in high school," said Penny, "and I was late. You know I've taken all those pregnancy tests because of my irregular periods. In high school, with my activity, I would have a late period, and think I was pregnant. Well, I was late, and I thought I'd better take the test to find out. It was negative, but he keeps saying we almost had a kid together."

"What was that about rapping, and all those tattoos?"

"It's ridiculous," said Penny. "He was a pretty regular guy in high school. I saw him a couple of times after, mostly during those times Kurt and I would fight and be apart for a week or so. He started to get tattoos, thinking it would give him tougher look, to make him a rapper." She chuckled, "Can you imagine a white guy, from Omaha, thinking he's going to be some kind of rap star? That tattoos would make him tougher? What would happen if he came to LA, got lost and walked into Compton?"

Leonard chuckled thinking about that.

"Leonard, I'm sorry about his comments."

"It stung me a little bit," admitted Leonard. "I've gotten all sorts of crappy comment since I was young, you try to get used to it, but sometimes…"

"I'm so sorry Leonard," said Penny. "By the way, you are not a small man, compared to him."

"Sure I am Penny," said Leonard, "He's over six foot, and I'm only…."

"Leonard," said Penny more insistently, "you are not a small man compared to him."

"I don't understand Penny, how can you say …."

"Leonard," said Penny, reaching over to rub his crotch, "YOU are almost twice the man he is."

Leonard finally got it, "Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh,"

"I doesn't really matter, but guys are so sensitive about their size. So let's put it this way, you were so much better, even that first awkward time, than he ever was," Penny said.

 _Ever was?_ Leonard started to think about that for a second. _How many times….Awwww, who cares, I am the one she's with now._ So, he nodded his head.

"Can we just go home?" said Penny plaintively. "I don't want to run into anyone else. I don't want to talk about my past."

"What about the rest of the stuff your mom wants?" asked Leonard.

"I'll call my dad and have him pick the stuff up," said Penny. "Just take me home for now. I don't want to see anyone else or want some dumb idiot from my past, insulting my boyfriend."

"OK, heading home."

While Leonard drove home, Penny had called and talked to her dad, telling him what he needed to get, but she didn't tell him why. Arriving at the farm, Penny asked Leonard to bring in all the things they did get and Penny hurried off. Leonard collected everything and walked toward the house. As he entered, he could hear Penny, talking to her mother, and she didn't sound happy.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 **A/N I'm looking at three more chapters and an epilogue, so it is winding down. But, we have a couple of issues to cover first. Just a thank you to all who continue to read and en especially big thanks to those who have reviewed.**

Loaned walked in, and saw Penny standing across the table from her mother, who was sitting. "I'm telling you mom, if I see that mean, gossipy bitch again, I'm telling her off."

"PENNY," said Susan loudly, "You will not talk of my friends that way."

"I will when it's deserved," said Penny angrily. "And, I will when they treat my boyfriend and me as she treated us today. To begin with, she made it sound as if Leonard was a worthless person for doing the work he does, worthless for sleeping with me, worthless because he was short, and somehow worthless because he's not in a church. I AM NOT, going to have anyone say such things about Leonard.

"Penny…"

"No, mom, you will just have to deal with it. To be honest with you, the idiots I ran into, haven't seemed to move on since high school. I'm not even sure I want to stay here any longer, maybe leave early." And with that, Penny turned, left the kitchen and from the sound of it, went up to her room.

Susan turned to Leonard. "Well, Leonard," said Susan, "is that accurate?"

"Yes, it is," said Leonard. "To be truthful, I've also had my fill of it today."

"What do you mean," said Susan sounding surprised.

"I think it's just a build up of everything from last night and today," said Leonard. "The ladies at the church were sweet. Your friend was just flat out rude, and Penny also met an old boyfriend today and a different one last night. All of them, even the sweet ladies were asking rather personal questions, and the rest seemed to want to say mean things to me, until Penny said something to them. And her old boyfriends really made some nasty comments, when they found out she was with me. She didn't say anything to your friend, but that's because she said it was your friend and she would try to stay polite to her. That didn't stop her from saying something to the others."

"What did she say?"

"Nothing to the old ladies," said Leonard. "But her old boyfriends, boy, she shut them down fast. Told them they were idiots, made sure they knew she was with me, told me I had a big…um…er…told me I was better than they were. She hasn't done that all that often, and it felt good to hear it. But I think she's tired of the crap she was getting, tired of getting hit on, just tired of it all. She was angry and I can't say I blame her, I wasn't happy about it either."

Susan looked sheepish, and said, "I'm sorry Leonard. I guess I owe her an apology."

"Don't worry about it for now," said Leonard. "Here's your stuff, except for the food. Penny called Wyatt, and he's bringing that. Let me go talk to her, you can talk to her later."

"OK," said Susan.

Leonard headed up to their room.

Penny was laying on the bed. He sat next to her, rubbing her arm.

"I guess," said Penny, "my mom's mad at me."

"I don't think so," said Leonard. "But, give her some time to come to grips with it. I gave her some of what happened today, and last night. I think she wants to apologized."

"I'm just so fed up with all these guys," said Penny angrily. "They haven't changed at all. Why do I feel like I've grown up, and they have all just stayed stuck in the same place?"

"Maybe because they are stuck?"

"What do you mean?"

"You moved on," said Leonard. "You got out, and now all those who stayed here haven't changed, but you have. Your dad said something yesterday. Something like, you outgrew your wild side, before it trapped you. Maybe the guys around here are trapped by their wild side. They simply never out grew it."

"My dad said that, wow?" said Penny. "You know it's because of you, right?"

"Oh I don't know about that," said Leonard.

"I do," said Penny. "I was going out with the same type of guy, until you. So, yes, you were a big influence on me. Well, all of the gang, but you most of all."

Leonard looked embarrassed, but didn't want to say anything about it, so he changed the subject. "Can you do me a favor, and don't shut your mom out, when she want's to talk about it?

Penny nodded. "Sure, if you do me a favor."

"What?"

"Lay here with me," said Penny. "I feel like a nap, but I want you here. I want to lay with the guy who helped me escape."

Leonard took off his shoes, laid in the bed next to her. He put his left arm under her head, his right arm over her side, grasping her right hand. He pulled her closer to him and within minutes, they were both asleep.

Leonard and Penny both woke up within minutes of each other. They both stretched and sat up. Leonard yawned, and Penny asked, "So what are we going to do the rest of the day?"

Leonard thought for a few seconds and said, "How about we take a horse ride?"

Penny looked and sounded surprised, "What? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," said Leonard. "I'm sure. I enjoyed it yesterday, and I think you could use a ride to relax yourself from all that crap earlier. So, yeah, lets go riding."

Penny leaned over and engulfed Leonard in a hug. "Thank you sweetie, I love you."

"Hehehehehe," chuckled Leonard. "I love you too, let's go."

Penny and Leonard headed for the barn, while passing Susan in the kitchen, Penny looked at her but didn't say anything. Penny put the saddles on, and helped Leonard up on Kisses. Penny hopped on Kit and they headed out of the barn.

Penny took him along the fence line, in the front of the house. Coming to a corner they guided their horses to the left, along another fence line. The horses were moving a bit faster than their previous time. Leonard seemed to be adjusting to the higher speed just fine. They came to an opening in the fence and Penny said, "Do you want to visit another farm?"

"What do you mean?" asked Leonard.

"Well," said Penny, "if we go through this opening, and cross the road, there is another farm. When I was young, one of my friends lived there. She's no longer there, but her mother still is. If you want we can stop in and say hi."

"OK," said Leonard, "we can do that."

Penny led Leonard through the fence, across the road and through the other fence. As they rode to the left, Leonard could see another farmhouse, barn, and the rest of the buildings. As they rode along the path in front of the house, a woman came out of the front door and Penny yelled out, "Mrs Bennet."

The woman stopped and looked at them, squinting through her glasses. Penny saw this and said, "It's me, Penny, Mrs Bennet."

"It's been a while since I've seen you, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

"That's OK, Mrs Bennet," said Penny. "I've been away for a while. We were riding and I wanted to bring my boyfriend from Los Angeles by here."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear," said Mrs Bennet. "I have some errand to run. But, feel free to ride where you used to ride."

"Sorry," said Penny. "I should have called first. Anyway, this is my boyfriend, Leonard. He works at Cal Tech."

"Isn't that one of those smart schools?"

"Yes, it is," said Penny, with a worried look.

"Well, good for you dear," said Mrs Bennet. "I'm glad you've done well for yourself. Congratulations Leonard on getting to such a school, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to me you, Mrs Bennet," said Leonard.

"How have you been?" asked Penny.

"I've managed since Ron passed, a few years ago," said Mrs Bennet. "The kids run the farm now. They let me live here, so at least I have a place to stay. I'm sorry, I have to go, but it was nice seeing you again." Mrs Bennet smiled at Penny then turned and walked to her car.

Leonard and Penny watched her leave and Penny said, "That went better than earlier."

Leonard just nodded.

Penny said, "She helped me get through my late teens. I was always fighting with my parents, and if I was fighting with Kurt, she would let me vent. She tried to pass on some advice, but since it was close to the same thing my parents told me, I ignored most of that too, but some of it stuck with me. See, she treated me like an adult, talked to me like an adult. She was the first to do that. Come on, I'll show you where we used to ride."

Penny lead them along the path, until they got to a small stream. There was a worn down area, along the side of the stream and they rode the horses along there for about 15 minutes, then the stream simply disappeared. Leonard was surprised. Penny explained, "Most farms have small streams that may not lead anywhere, or start and stop depending on the how the land runs, and how much rain we've had recently."

They turned around and rode back along the path, rode in front of the Bennet's house and were back across the road in a short time. They again rode along the fence, retracing their earlier ride out and soon they were back at the barn.

To the surprise of Penny, Leonard hopped down off of Kisses before she could get to him. "You think you're getting pretty good with this horse thing, do you?"

"Not really," said Leonard. "I've been watching you and I figured out how to do it, so I tried it."

"We'll see if you can get on by yourself," said Penny with an evil grin. "That takes some upper body strength."

Leonard looked at her, smiled and put his foot in the stirrup, grabbed the horn and bounced up on his right foot, while he pulled on the horn. He pushed with his left foot, as he swung his leg over, and was sitting in the saddle with no help. "You mean like that," Leonard said with a laugh.

Penny just stared at him, then shook her head. "Ok, smart boy, no more help for you."

"Didn't you notice how little help you actually gave me, when we started this afternoon?"

Penny thought back, "Maybe I should just let you remove the saddle and brush her out."

Leonard just laughed and got down off the horse again, "That, I don't know how to do, so you're stuck with that."

They led the horses back into the barn and Penny removed the saddle and other riding equipment, hung in up and brushed out the horses, while Leonard actually did try to help with the equipment and brushing. They then led the horses into theirs stalls and headed back to the house.

They found Penny's mother and father at the kitchen table, drinking Lemonade. Leonard grabbed a glass and poured himself some. As he sat down, Penny said she was going to get a shower and Leonard could get one after her, and she headed for the stairs.

A half an hour later she came into the kitchen, only seeing her mom, breaking the ends off of string beans. "Where's daddy and Leonard?" She asked.

"Your father was going out to feed the hogs and Leonard went with him," said Susan.

"Leonard went where?" asked Penny incredulously. "Was that Leonard's or daddy's idea?"

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention," said Susan, throwing another bean into the pot. "You want to help?"

"Do you want me to help?" Said Penny tersely.

"Look, Penny," said Susan. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Let's try to forget it ever happened. I found out I was wrong and you did really well in not going off on her, OK?"

Penny was puzzled, as her mother normally didn't admit her guilt in something having to do with her. But, Penny felt she was trying, so nodded and said, "Can I help you mom?"

Susan smiled and said, "I'd love that."

Penny sat down and they both started breaking the ends of the beans off, and talking about Leonard and Penny's ride.

They had finished the beans and were working on the chicken when Wyatt and Leonard walked into the kitchen. From the looks of Leonard, it looked like the hogs had slopped him. They were both smiling, so Penny asked, "What are you two so happy about."

Leonard said, "Wyatt showed me how to slop the hogs. I thought I was going to get trampled, but Wyatt stepped in and explained how to do it. By the third trough, I thought I had it, but I slipped when I was pouring it out, and…and… he looked down at his clothes, I guess I made a mess. It was kind of fun, though."

Penny looked at Leonard strangely. "What do you mean fun?" asked Penny.

"I mean pouring the bucket of slop into the trough and over the pigs was fun."

"OK, I'm glad you clarified that," said Penny. "I thought you meant getting down into the pen to play with the hogs, in the slop. You need to head on up and get your shower. We'll have dinner ready in about a half hour."

"You too, Wyatt," said Susan. And with that, Wyatt and Leonard headed toward the stairs, talking and laughing.

"I swear mom," said Penny. "I don't know what has gotten into Leonard. He's been talking about me missing this place, he's been having fun doing all the chores, he seems to really like the farm."

"I wouldn't worry Penny," said Susan. "It's probably just new to him. It's not like he would want to actually become a farmer. And, no offense, but I don't think he has the body build to work on a farm. You want to turn the potatoes on dear?"

Penny chuckled as she walked to the stove, "Yeah, you're right there. Leonard, a farmer? Could you see him trying to pitch hay, or lift one of the calves?" Penny continued to chuckle as she turned the stove on and headed back to the table.

The four of them enjoyed the dinner. Penny explained what had happened during the day and after hearing about it all, Susan was contrite about arguing with Penny. Wyatt just shook his head. After dinner, Penny and Leonard watched a bit of TV, while looking at their email. Susan was doing some sewing and Wyatt was working on something to do with the farm. Penny and Leonard eventually headed to bed early, as they were both looking forward to seeing her schools the next day.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 **A/N. Remember I said this was kind of a sequel to The In-Law Initiation, Lenny's trip to New Jersey? There are a couple of references to that story in this chapter.**

Leonard was awake first, and he slid out of bed, trying not to disturb Penny. He got dressed, performed his morning rituals and headed downstairs. Susan and Wyatt were already there, and Leonard volunteered to go get the eggs. By the time he got back, Penny was up and sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

Leonard decided to make breakfast for everyone, so he started the bacon. While Leonard prepared breakfast, Penny set the table and pour juice for everyone. They were all soon sitting around the table eating breakfast talking about their plans for the day. Afterward, Penny and Leonard did the dishes and after getting ready and grabbing a travel cup of coffee, they were soon pulling out of the driveway.

"I don't have any special teachers like you had…what was her name? Mrs. Bowers?" said Penny.

"Mrs. Byers."

"Oh, yeah, Mrs. Byers," said Penny. "Sorry. Anyway…so, we won't be going into either of the schools, like we did when you took me around. I'm just going to stop in the parking lot, so you can see where I went."

"That's fine," said Leonard. "So where to first?"

"I'm going start at the elementary school and finish at my high school," said Penny as she drove.

"Why aren't we going to your middle school?"

"I didn't have one Leonard," said Penny. "At the time, there wasn't one. There isn't one now, for that matter, but there will be in another couple of years. For now, just hold off until we get there, I'll explain it then."

Penny had stopped at the main road, the one they had come in on, and after waiting for the traffic, drove across. After about a half mile, she turned right, Leonard noticed the name "Bennington Road" and Penny continued on here for about two miles. They started into what looked like a subdivision and came to a stoplight.

Leonard could see a school on the opposite corner, and Penny turned right at the light. She then turned left into a parking lot, backed into a space and turned off the car. "So, this is my elementary school, Bennington Elementary". Notice how much smaller it is than your elementary school."

"Yeah, it is," said Leonard. "How many grades here?"

"I went her from kindergarten until sixth grade."

"Ok," said Leonard. "We only went until fifth grade."

"Well, sixth grade was how they did it here," said Penny. "See the playground out there? That's new, it used to be where that extension of the main building is," pointing to the right of the school. "They got rid of the monkey bars when they did that. Now, it's just a couple of slides and some swings. They added to the school's capacity in the last couple of years. That's the extension I told you about.

"What do you remember?"

"Just playing during recess and a couple of school plays."

"That's it?"

"Well, you know I wasn't that good of a student, said Penny. "I was mostly into the social parts of school. OK, on to the high school."

She started the car, and pulled back out onto the road, turning right. She made another right on Bennington. She continued for another two miles and was approaching a stoplight, when, on the right, Leonard saw another school. He figured it was her high school, when she pulled into a parking lot by the school.

Turning off the car, Penny said, "This is my high school. At the time, and now for that matter, grades seven through twelve. Although, grades seven and eight are in a separate building, around toward the back."

Leonard was looking over the various buildings, then said, "That's really small, compared to my high school. Especially as you had two more grades than we did."

"I told you that when we were in New Jersey," said Penny. "But, that is changing. You see across the road?"

"You mean where that empty field is?"

"Yeah," said Penny, "they are going to build a new Middle school there. They will take sixth grade out of elementary school, and grades seven and eight, out of the high school. They are also planning on making the high school bigger. They will be adding a separate cafeteria, enlarging the Library, and adding a theatre and redoing the cafeteria/multipurpose room into an auditorium."

"There's going to be two whole new buildings. One with more classrooms, the other attached to the new theatre with classrooms and rehearsal rooms for band and orchestra. They are going to make it a magnet school for the arts and are expanding the district, so there are going to be more students. I wish they would have made it a magnet school earlier, I could have taken acting classes here."

Leonard nodded. "Do you miss high school?"

"I guess," said Penny. "Not so much high school, but being young and not having any real life responsibilities."

"I can understand that," said Leonard. "So where to next?"

"I thought I'd show you where we used to hang out," said Penny. "But I need more coffee, I can stop at the Starbucks on the way."

"That sound good."

Penny left the parking lot, and got back on Bennington Road, and at the stoplight, turned left. She drove for several miles, Leonard noticing the small family farms were very similar to those near his old house in New Jersey. They housing tracks had started appearing on both sides of the road and after a couple of more minutes, there were no longer farms on either side of the road, just houses.

Penny turned right at a light, and Leonard saw a Starbucks just ahead on the right. Penny pulled in and parked. They got out of the car, and before they could close their doors, Penny jumped back into the car slamming her door. Leonard was puzzled, he was looking at the entrance and he saw a couple coming out of Starbucks.

The woman was obviously quite late in her pregnancy, with a flowered dress on. The man had a t-shirt and a jean jacket on, his neck and arms were covered in tattoos. He was wearing a baseball cap, turned around, on his head. Around them were five children, all looking under ten years old. Leonard watched them get into an old station wagon, and after it left in a billow of smoke, Penny got out of the car.

They walked into the store and ordered. They waited for their coffee, Penny was quiet, when they finally got their order, Penny lead him to a corner. "You want to know what all that was, right?"

"Yeah," said Leonard, "that was weird. I'm assuming it's another one of your exes, right?"

"Partly," said Penny, "it was one of my exes, and a girl I had trouble with."

"Ok," said Leonard, "tell me about it."

"The woman is Chelsea Himmelfarb, although I guess her name is now Richardson. She took a a guy away from me in kindergarten and…"

"Wait a minute," said Leonard, "you're talking about taking a guy from you when you were kids? Isn't that going a bit overboard in holding a grudge? I mean from all the way back in kindergarten?"

"No, of course not," said Penny, "that's only part of it. She was doing it all through elementary and high school. We did not get along and any guy I was with, she was right there to take him away. Of course, I did the same to her. The guy with her was Curtis, I think my dad mentioned him when he was out in LA. He was the guy that was trying to get beer pong in the Olympics. He was another one trying to be a rapper, as if a white guy from Omaha, who listens to country music, was going to be a rapper."

Leonard thought back, and remembered Wyatt saying something about a guy getting beer pong into the Olympics, something about guys wearing their hats backward. He also remembered Penny saying something about neck tattoos and kids. But, he couldn't think of anything to say though, so he just nodded.

"Anyway," continued Penny, "I was going out with him, my senior year. He was out of school and I thought mature, then she started having sex with him. I caught them, so he broke up with me, and moved on to her. She got pregnant and after the kid, they broke up, and he got the kid, and we hooked up a couple of times."

"Hey," said Leonard, "wait a minute. I thought you were going out with Kurt your senior year and after high school."

"We weren't always together, when we first started dating," said Penny. "While we were here, every so often, we'd fight, go out with others, then get back together. After a couple of weeks, Kurt and I got back together, Curtis hooked up with Chelsea, and she got pregnant again."

"Hmmmmmm, and here I just through you were together for all four years."

"The breakups weren't usually more than two weeks or so." Penny thought for a minute, "Well there were a couple of time it was one or two months. But, we were together, off and on, mostly on, during that first year. Once we got to LA, we didn't have those temporary separations."

"I didn't know that," said Leonard.

"Anyway, after that, they got back together and got married," said Penny. "But, man, five kids, and another on the way? Maybe I was lucky she took him away." They were quiet for a minute, when suddenly Penny said, "Can we just go home?"

"Sure," said Leonard, "Why?"

"I'm tired of running into my past," said Penny dejectedly. "I don't want to see anyone from here, and everywhere I go, I keep running into people I really don't want to see, and it keeps reminding me what I got away from. We can go home and not have to worry about seeing them."

"You seemed happy about seeing Rosie," said Leonard.

"One person out of how many?" Asked Penny. "And, I could have called her over. Anyone I want to see, I'll call them. I just don't want to see most of the people here. We have the rest of today, then we have all day tomorrow, start packing tomorrow night, and leave the next day. Except for going to see my brother, I just want to stay at my parents, not risk running into anyone else."

"Ok," said Leonard, Let's head back to your parents."

"Thanks, Leonard," said Penny. "We can get some lunch when we get back." They got up and walked out to the car, heading back to the farm.

It was after lunch, and Leonard was sitting in the kitchen with Susan. Penny had left to see her brother at the rehab center. Susan and Leonard had been talking about Leonard, Penny, and their history, when they heard the back door open and Wyatt came in. "Hi Leonard," he said, before going over to Susan, giving her a kiss.

"What's up?" Said Wyatt.

"Penny went to see Randall," said Susan.

"Susan and I were talking," said Leonard.

"Well, I just found out a few things and I'm going up to work on some of the finances for the farm," said Wyatt. "Come on up with me. It'll give you some idea of what it takes."

"OK," said Leonard, "that sounds interesting."

"C'mon," said Wyatt, as he and Leonard headed off toward the stairs.

It was almost an hour later when Penny returned. She came in to the kitchen, Susan seeing her asked, "How's Randall?"

"He's an idiot," said Penny, sounding exasperated.

"Why, what happened?" Asked Susan.

"We had a nice visit," said Penny. "He told me he was doing good. Getting off of meth. I said that's good and he asked me why I didn't bring Leonard with me. I told him I didn't think it was a good time to introduce them, but I was glad to hear he was getting off the stuff. Of course, I didn't trust it, so I check with one of the nurses on the way out, just to make sure, and she verified everything he had said. So I was feeling good about him, until I was leaving."

"What happened then?"

"I ran into Christy," said Penny.

"Christy?"

"Yeah, you remember," said Penny. "She was engaged to my cousin, and she was sleeping with Randall."

"Oh, yeah," said Susan, "I remember her, she's a slut."

"Yeah, well, she's back to seeing Randall," said Penny. "She goes and see's him on days when they have conjugal visits. I thought she was still in LA, I guess she moved back here. She just uses everyone. She's used him before, she used a friend of mine in LA, and she's probably doing it again."

Susan sighed, "I'm going to have to send your father down there, and straighten him out. We can't have anyone seeing him going out with her again. People would talk."

"Really mom?" Said Penny. "That's what you're worried about? Not how Randall is, but how it would appear?" She shook her head. "Where's Leonard?"

"He's upstairs with your father," said Susan. "Going over some finance things."

"Why?"

"I don't know, your father asked and Leonard went with him."

Penny turned and headed up the stairs and toward the room where Wyatt had his office. As she got to the door she heard Wyatt say, "I'm telling you Leonard, you would have no problem with running this place, and I'd be around for quite a while to help."

Penny was thinking over the last few days and finally everything clicked. That's enough of that, thought Penny, so she called out. "Leonard, are you up here?"

"In here Penny," she heard Leonard say. Penny entered with a scowl on her face. Leonard, seeing it asked, "What's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you," said Penny tersely. "And, mom wants to talk to you dad."

Wyatt nodded and left the room. Penny watched him leave, then turned to Leonard. "OK, Leonard," she started, "what's going with you and my dad?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean all this learning about how the farm runs," said Penny. "You have no need to know the details."

"It was just kind of fun," said Leonard. "He seemed to happy to teach me all of this."

"Is that all?"

"Your father said something the other day when we were in the tractor, that made me think," said Leonard. "He mentioned your sister doesn't want anything to do with the farm and how your brother is in too much trouble, and is so involved in drugs to be able to handle it. You know what that means, right?"

"No," said Penny tensely, "I don't know what that means."

"Well, your father thinks we should get and run the farm."

"Oh my god, no," said Penny. "I don't want it either. I told you, I don't want to come back here. Especially with what's happened here the last couple of days. I don't want to hear about my life here. If I came back here, I'd be getting it all the time. I don't need that."

"Are you sure?" said Leonard. "You've been tuning out, looking over the farm like you've missed it."

"Leonard," said Penny with a scowl, "I'm remembering stuff back when I was a kid. Coming back now would be a lot different from when I was a kid. I…WE would be responsible for the whole thing. I want nothing to do with that."

"But, I was thinking if I learn about it, we could come back here and you…"

"No, Leonard," said Penny. "He's been trying to get you to think about taking over the farm. And, it looks like he's done just that. "

"No, he hasn't been doing that."

"Yes, Leonard," said Penny, "he has."

"There's no way I could do something like that," said Leonard. "There's a lot of physical work, I would have to do, and can't. Not to mention trying to work with hay, with my asthma."

"Does this sound familiar?" Asked Penny. "You could hire someone to do the physical work. I'll be around to help you. I've got some money put back to help with things on the farm, I can include that in the price, without anyone knowing about it."

Leonard looked shocked, "How did you know that?"

"My brother," said Penny. "While he was still in school, before he started getting in all this trouble, my dad was trying to get him to start learning the farm. Tried to get him to take over. It didn't work, and he told me some of what my dad tried to get him to reconsider."

"But what about your memories," said Leonard. "You've been thinking about the farm since we've been back."

"Leonard," said Penny, "just because I have fond memories about this place, doesn't mean I want to come back. Remember when we were in New Jersey a few years ago? You had some fond memories, do you want to go back there and live?"

"No," said Leonard, "because of all the bad memories."

"Then why do you think I want to come back here?" Asked Penny. "Since I met all of you out in LA, a lot of the memories here have a different meaning to me now. A lot of those good memories, aren't so good anymore. The good things are what's happening to me now."

"Damn," said Leonard. "I'm sorry Penny. I better go talk to him and tell him I don't want to get involved in the farm?"

"No, you don't have to say anything to him," said Penny. "I'm going to take care of it right now." And with that, Penny turned and headed toward the stairs.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

 **A/N There's this chapter before it starts winding down. A chapter after this, and an epilogue is all that's left, but it may just be one more chapter. For those who have read "The Chew Toy Revelations", there a shout out to that story here, see if you can spot it.**

They were both heading down the stairs. Leonard could hear Wyatt and Susan arguing. Getting to the kitchen, Wyatt looked mad, Susan unhappy. "Dammit Susan, I'm not going to tell Randall what he should do any more. He's old enough, if he's screwed up, he can handle it."

"But, Bob…"

"Don't Bob me," said Wyatt, "I'm just going to leave him alone, let him find his own path."

"Then why don't you leave Leonard alone," said Penny, entering the kitchen. The anger in her voice was very evident to Leonard.

"What do you mean, slugger?"

"Don't slugger me," said Penny. "I know you've been showing Leonard all the things that need to be done here on the farm, trying to get him to think about moving here and taking over the farm."

"I wouldn't do that without…"

"Bullshit…"

"Penny, don't…"

"I will if I want, mother," said Penny turning to her mother. "I'm pissed right now, and I'll swear, if I want." She turned back to her father, "Yes you would daddy. I heard you when I went upstairs to find you and Leonard. Telling Leonard he would have no trouble running this place and you would be around to help him. How could you, without talking to me first, to see if I was even interested?"

Wyatt opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but Penny jumped in ahead of him.

"Don't even try dad," said Penny. "When I was a teen, I was the one always getting in trouble. You were always telling me I should be more like my brother and sister. Telling me how those two didn't get into trouble. Then I left and, god knows how, well, thanks to Leonard and my friends, I became responsible and those two started getting into trouble. So now I'm the one you want running the farm with my husband and you aren't even talking to me about it, why?"

"Well, yes," said Wyatt, "Things changed and …"

"Don't give me that," said Penny. "What's the real reason you've been pushing Leonard to take over?"

"There is not hidden reason, I simply want…"

"Dammit dad, tell me."

"OK," said Wyatt raising his hands, "if you must know, I'm trying to keep the farm in the family. My dad got the farm from his grandfather as his mother didn't want it. If one of you kids keeps it, it will be in the family for five generation. So excuse me for that."

"I'm sorry daddy," said Penny, "but, like your grandma, I have no interest in farming. Leonard, I'm sure doesn't really want to run it. He's thinking to keep it, because of me and he thinks moving here with him will make me happy. Daddy, I love the farm, and the time I spent here as a kid. But, I'm not that kid anymore. Leonard thought I wanted to come back here. I don't, and I don't want you changing him, into something I don't want. I love him just the way he is."

"Penny," said Susan, "Can I ask you something?"

Penny swung around, surprised her mother would jump in here. "What?" Said Penny angrily.

"Wyatt, honey," said Susan, "it's about time to slop the hogs, why don't you take Leonard out to help?"

"What?" said Wyatt, he was looking at Susan with a puzzled expression. He saw her flick her eyes toward the door, and he realized Susan wanted to talk to Penny. "Oh, yeah," said Wyatt. "Come on Leonard, come and help me. "

They both rose and Wyatt led Leonard toward the back door. Penny spoke up, again, anger still in her voice, "Daddy, don't you dare talk to him about anything other than the hogs or California. Leonard, I'm going to ask you what you talked about. Leonard nodded his head, and walked out the door."

Penny spun around, facing her mother. "What was that all about mom?" said Penny.

"What do you mean?" she said innocently.

"You know what I mean," said Penny. "I saw the eye flick, telling daddy to get out of here. You've been doing that since I was a teenager, and it usually means you want to talk to me about something. So, what is it."

Susan was at a loss for words as she was planning to ease into the subject. But, now, she was caught short. She thought for a bit and just plunged in. "Where is your relationship with Leonard going?" She asked.

Penny was surprised by the bluntness of her question. Trying to get some idea, she tentatively asked, "What do you mean?"

"Where's your relationship going?" Asked Susan. "You are so mad at your dad for trying to change Leonard. But, you are making no effort to marry him or even get engaged the way he is now, so why the worry about your dad changing him?" She paused for a few second, "So when are you going to get married?"

"Oh, I don't know mom," said Penny nervously, "we'll get to that when it comes up."

Well, I know it's come up," said Susan. "Leonard's proposed three times that I know of."

Penny looked surprised, "How do you know that?"

"Oh, Penny," said Susan, "Leonard talks to your father, your father talks to me. Your father and I talk about you two all the time. For instance, I know that Leonard has left it up to you to propose. He's not going to propose, he's going to wait for you to do it."

Now Penny looked completely shocked. "What…?"

Susan chuckled, "Close your mouth, dear."

"Mom," yelled Penny, sounding frustrated.

"What," said Susan, "you didn't think we would talk about how you two were getting along? After your father was so happy with him? Anyway, like I said, I know it has come up with him, so do you have any plans on proposing to him."

Penny looked uncomfortable. "I don't know mom. I'm not sure"

"What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"I'm not," said Penny. "Last spring, he and his roommate had a fight, and he left there saying he was going to move in with me and I freaked out. It was a couple of days of me being totally uncomfortable with him there."

"Why?"

"Again, I don't know."

"Well," said Susan, "don't you think you better figure it out?"

"Yes, I should, and I'm trying," said Penny, "but, really, things are going well, why be in a hurry?"

"Penny…"

"What mom?" said Penny in frustration, "What? What do you expect from me?"

"I'm just trying to understand," said Susan. "You are involved with a guy, a really nice, wonderful, guy, from what I can see. A guy that adores you, that, according to you, will do anything for you. A guy you defend intensely, when anyone attacks him, or even looks at him cross-eyed. A guy you keep saying you love. And yet, you refuse him when he proposes, and when you tell him what bothers you about the proposal, he removes all the pressure on you, and let's you make the decision, when you're ready."

"Let's go back to the last time you broke up with him," said Susan. "You said you did it because you were afraid of not being able to say I love you to him. And, you didn't want to hurt him by stringing him along, with him hoping you would be able to say it one day."

"Yeah, so?"

"Aren't you stringing him along now?" Asked Susan.

"No," said Penny forcefully.

"No? Are you sure?" Asked Susan. "Because I see it as that is exactly what you are doing. You weren't sure you could say I love you, at some time in the future, so you broke up with him. Now, you aren't sure you will be able to commit to him, in marriage, some time in the future, so you don't propose. How are they different?"

Penny didn't have an answer, and so just sat silent.

"What is it, that keeps you from committing to him?" Asked Susan.

"Mom," said Penny, "I am committed to him. I'm not running around on him, like I used to do in high school. We're…we're… just letting things go along for now."

"Hehehehe," chuckled Susan. "Well, at least you can tell him you love him now."

Penny's head swung around, "Yeah, that took me a long time, and now I can say it, so what…wait, how did you know that?"

"Oh honey, I knew it was a big deal, for you, said Susan. "Leonard talked to your dad, so I know what happened when you said it.

"What?"

"I also knew within a week of it happening," said Susan. "You may not realize what you just did here was something very similar."

"What are you talking about?"

"You called Leonard your husband, in the middle of an argument," said Susan.

"I did what…"

"You called Leonard your husband, in the middle of an argument," said Susan. "Much like the I love you came out in the middle of an argument."

Penny was in shock, but said, "What don't you know?"

"Seriously, sweety, I know just about everything you and Leonard have gone through in last two years or so."

"No you don't, you're just trying to get under my skin." Penny looked at her mother incredulously.

"Let's see, after the proposal in bed," started Susan, as she ticked off each thing on her fingers, "Leonard wasn't sure if you would stay together. How something changed, and suddenly, you were all attentive. How he thought you both were working on things that didn't work the first time. How you finally said 'I love you'. "

"How he was so surprised that you even felt insecure about him, how you were basically living together, even though he had his own apartment, which makes me wonder why you say you were so freaked out by his moving in with you."

"How supportive you were when he left for the research trip to the North Sea. By the way, you may not know this, but before he got picked for the trip, Leonard was planning on surprising you by coming here for the summer, so I guess this is that trip, just later."

"I do want to ask you something, said Susan. "You had that one pregnancy test in the box, how many pregnancy tests did you take with Leonard.

Penny was completely shocked. "I don't think that's any of your business." Penny was thinking as Susan had mentioned most of their last year. _How much did Leonard talk to her dad? Evidently quite a bit, and, of course, it appeared dad talked to mom. Maybe it would be a good thing to talk about this with her._

"And, Penny," said Susan, "after all the trouble you had after breaking up with him the last time, the drinking, the calls home, the crying. Do you remember what Rosie said to you the other day? How, if you don't grab him, someone else may?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Have you already forgotten what you felt like when Leonard was going out with that Indian woman?" Asked Susan. "You know you love him, you know how miserable you were without him, so what's holding you back?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't know?" Said Penny in exasperation.

"Come on Penny, talk to me about this," said Susan. "You have to know. I get why you've turned him down a couple of times. I understand the one in bed was weird, and you didn't see the skywriting one. But you were at a nice restaurant, he got down on his knee to propose and you dismissed him out of hand. Why?"

"It wasn't the best timing," said Penny. "I had just seen one of the guys who had cheated on me proposing to the girl he cheated on me with. I was pissed."

"Why?" Asked Susan. "That guy cheated on you, why would you be pissed he was going to marry someone else. Why would you even want him, especially as you had Leonard right there? I know I would have taken it rather personally."

"That's what Leonard said," said Penny. "Part of it was I simply wasn't ready for it," said Penny. "When we got home that night, we talked about my fear of commitment, and we reached an agreement. So something good did come out of it."

"What are you afraid of?" Asked Susan.

"I don't know," said Penny, with a pained voice. "I mean you're laying this out as if I should have no problem with it. But, when I try it, I get sick to my stomach, I get worried, I get nervous. And I simply don't know why."

"Part of it is probably what happened with Kurt and Mike. I moved in with Kurt, and he ended up cheating on me. Mike wrote about our sex life and after I broke up with him, he was with another girl within an hour." Penny stopped for a few seconds, then said in a whisper, "What if I cheat on him?"

"Has that even crossed your mind since you told him you loved him the first time?"

Penny thought for a second. "No," she admitted, "it actually hasn't crossed my mind since before that."

Were you happy with Kurt and Mike"

"Yeah, kinda," said Penny, "but I didn't move in with Mike."

"Don't be so picky," said Susan. "You know what I mean. You said you were thinking about moving in."

"Yeah, so?"

"Are you happy with Leonard."

"Very, why?"

"Happier than with Kurt and Mike?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Then I don't understand," said Susan. "You knew Kurt for about nine to ten months, and you ran off to LA and moved in with him. You knew Mike less three months, and were ready to move in with him. Leonard, you've known fo six/seven years and you say you're happier with him than you were with the other two guys, and you can't pull the trigger on either marriage or moving in with him? "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Her mom swearing surprised Penny, but she said, "Mom, that's not fair…"

"And, to top it off," said Susan, "he's a far better man their either of those two, and you know it. We also know, from today, that you think of him as your husband. Dammit, tell me exactly what is the problem that is keeping you from openly committing to Leonard?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 **A/N Sorry this is a bit late. I've been cast in a play, and I've been working on my den, the den that was damaged last fall in the Hurricane. This has kinda taken away time for the story. Fortunately, I only have one more chapter, after this one. I'll be editing it over the next week (I have to rewrite a small piece because of a change in this chapter, but I'll have it done no later than next Monday or Tuesday, very possibly earlier.**

Penny was silent for almost a minute. "If it doesn't work, I lose Leonard," Said Penny. To her mother, she sounded like a lost little girl.

"What do you mean, sweety?"

"When I broke up with him several years ago," said Penny. "I did it because I wasn't sure, I could say I loved him, and I didn't want to hurt him. After about a week of it being awkward, we were able to continue as friends. I knew I still had feelings for him, but tried to hide it. At least I could still see him, hang around with him, since we stayed friends. But now…"

"But, now what?"

"Now," said Penny, "we're in much deeper and a breakup now would end the relationship, destroy the friendship. A break up, now, would be something we could never come back from. It would mean the end of my friendship with him, it would mean we would go our separate ways and not ever get back to being friends or even be able to see each other. I would lose him forever." Tears had been forming in Penny's eyes while she talked, and now tears were falling.

Noticing, Susan pulled her chair next to Penny's and gathered her in a hug. She just held on while Penny sobbed softly. Finally, Penny sat up, wiped her eyes, and looked at her mother.

"Penny," said Susan, "don't you think you're hurting him by putting this off?"

"I suppose…"

"You can't be afraid of being with him, if you're afraid of not being with him," said Susan. "It's one or the other, anything else is unfair to Leonard."

"I know."

"So what worries you so much that you think about a breakup?" asked Susan.

"I'm afraid of how different we are."

"What are you talking about, Penny?"

"How different we are," said Penny. "He's so smart, he into science fiction, all those movies, his t-shirts, games, all of that. I'm not smart, I like celebrity gossip, pop music, chick flicks, dancing, all of the things like that. What if it doesn't work, because of our differences? It's just easier for me to continue the way we've been going, so I don't have to worry about it."

 _She doesn't realize, she doesn't know…I have to make her see,_ thought Susan. "Penny, that is just ridiculous. Just because you aren't married, doesn't mean you don't have to worry about it. But, look at Rosie and her husband. They are also so different, and they make it work."

"Yes, I know," said Penny. "I was thinking about that as I was talking to her the other day. But that still doesn't change my being worried about how different Leonard and I are."

"That's silly," said Susan. "I was listening when you were talking to Rosie. You were explaining scientific stuff, that cat thing, electrons, all that to Rosie. It sound to me like you have some kind of understanding. Then you and Rosie were talking about comic books and also talking about his superhero stuff. You can't tell me you haven't picked up some of it. And, if you weren't interested for Leonard's sake, you wouldn't have picked up any of it."

"But mom," said Penny, "they aren't as different as me and Leonard are, they're both from here."

"And they haven't been together as long as you and Leonard have, so what? I was talking to Leonard today…" said Susan.

"You talked to Leonard?" Said Penny, her eyes getting big.

"Yes, I did," said Susan, "I had never talked to him alone, I wanted to get to know him. He's very polite, speaks well, as you know, very smart, and he is head over heels in love with you. Not to mention how patient he's been with you…"

"Mom…"

"Anyway, he was telling me all about _Sex in the City_ ," said Susan. How this person was dating this guy, and these two woman were fighting. I was surprised he knew about that, as that show wasn't something I would expect him know about. He said he picked it up, since he's been with you. He was also telling me how you got him listen to all these different bands, how he now goes to do karaoke. He does all that stuff because he knows it makes you happy."

"Neither of you see it," said Susan, "but you both have picked up some of the other interests. You don't have to have a big interest in what the other is doing, but for both of you to have knowledge about what the other is doing, or likes, indicates you both want to give a little, so the other one can enjoy themselves. You both want to make the other happy, so I don't see what you're worried about. You are both at the point where you don't have to worry about it, because each of you has already given up things for the other."

Penny looked shocked. "I've never thought about it that way."

"Why not?"

"It has to do with something that came up just before Leonard and I started going out again," said Penny. " He though he had to do all that, just so I would have sex with him. I didn't think of it like that, we were going out, so, we were going to have sex."

Penny paused watching her other hide her eyes. Her eye's twinkled, "What's wrong mom, thinking about sex bothers you?"

"No, it does not bother me," said Susan. "Remember, I was pregnant when I got married. But, it bothers me thinking about you having sex." Susan mouth broke into a grin as she chuckled, "How about this, think of me and your father having sex. My legs wrapped arou…"

"MOM, STOP," said Penny, with a shudder. "I get it. No, just, no," Penny said. "Anyway, he was talking about the first time we were going out. It was his first long term relationship and he was still insecure and worried we wouldn't have sex, if he didn't do what I wanted. So he was doing things with me, not to pick up things that interested me. Now that I know him better, and what he went through when he was younger, I could see, now, why he might think like that. I guess that stuck with me."

"Well, it's not like that anymore, is it?"

"No, not at all," said Penny. "It wasn't like that then either, he just though it was. But, yeah, we both try to at least be interested, in the others interests. Although, I do give him a hard time about his interests, jokingly. Well, he jokingly gives me a hard time too."

"Then you really have to start thinking about the proposal," said Susan.

"I don't have to propose right now, do I?"

"Of course not," said Susan. "I'm not saying jump right into it. But, you really should start thinking about it seriously. You both love each other and you both give for the other. You really need to have some plan ready so a couple of months down the road, when you really know where you are at. Although, I would guess from your comment about his being your husband, you really do know now, and you're just trying to avoid it, because of prior problems in your relationships."

"One day, soon I think, you going to realize Leonard is what's good for you, and is what makes you happy. Once you realize that, you will propose. But, you have to mean it. You can't just propose because you're down or things aren't going good, or you're looking some kind of boost in how you feel. Leonard will pick up on that, and maybe turn you down, although from talking to him, it's something he really wants. You have to make him know it's really what you want."

Penny was running all of this through her mind. _Yes, she loved him. Yes, I can't imagine being without him. But married? Forever? Can we do that when we are so different? I don't know. Maybe mom is right, I wouldn't be happy without him, so he must make me happy._

Susan was watching Penny. She knew that Penny loved him, knew she wanted to marry him. But, hoped she had gotten through to her. Susan leaned over, looked Penny in the eyes, and said, "You have to think about it Penny and make your mind up, otherwise it's not fair to Leonard."

Penny chewed her lower lip, and nodded. She sat quietly for a bit, thinking about what her mom just told her. Finally, she said, "Mom, how'd you get to be so smart?"

"I'm not really," said Susan. "I know you think I'm more worried about how the family appears to everyone, then worried about each member of the family. But, I just want everyone to be happy and healthy. Your sister drinks and is in a bad marriage. Your brother makes and sells drugs. I just don't think those things need to be talked about by us, outside the family."

"Now, those two have real problems, it's going to take a lot of work, for each of them, to fix them. You…well you don't need a lot of work. You have turned your life around from when you were younger, and I'm proud of you for that. You have a problem with commitment, but you still have found a good man and lord he must be a patient man. "

"What about daddy? He doesn't drink all that much and you keep getting on him about it."

"Well, his doctor has insisted he cut back on it, down to one or two," said Susan. "But he doesn't, and I have to say something to him. You may notice that he gripes about it, but he does stop when I challenge him on it. It's the only way to get him to pay attention to his doctor, sometimes."

Penny got up, walked to her mother and gave her a hug. "Well, thanks mom, for not losing faith in me."

"You're welcome, dear," said Susan. "Are we good now?"

"Yes, mom, we're good."

Just then, they heard the guys coming up to the back door, Susan quickly whispered, "Remember Penny, think about this, you don't want to lose him again."

Penny nodded and moved back into her chair.

The guys came in quietly, with quizzical looks at Penny. She grinned inwardly, but with a stern expression said, "Yes, daddy?"

"Slugger," he started, "I want to say I'm sorry for not talking things over with you before pushing these things on Leonard."

"Don't you mean talking things over with both of us?" Asked Penny.

Wyatt coughed in embarrassment, "Yeah, OK, I should have talked to both of you."

"I know you want one of us kids to get the farm, daddy," said Penny. "But, I don't think I could live here anymore. Between my past here, and the good things I have in LA, it just doesn't make sense to come back here. Oh, I could bring Leonard here, I suppose, but then I would lose my other friends. I like the idea of the farm being here if I want to come back and visit, but running it? I don't see that happening. I mean, come on, can you see Leonard trying to give orders to Richard or Dennis?"

Wyatt chuckled and said, "No, I can't, you have a point there. Maybe you telling them…"

Leonard looked hurt, "Neither of you think I could do that?"

"Leonard," said Wyatt, "I think the world of you, but Penny is right here. It's something I didn't think through."

Penny smiled at him, "Leonard, these guys would tell you exactly where to stick it, if you did something wrong and if you tried to get all tough on them, they may just walk off, leaving you with no way to run the farm. It's tough to earn their respect, and a short asthmatic who can't do most of the physical stuff they'll have to do, while I love him, is not going to earn their respect."

"You'd be great if you were trying to do something similar, with the people at Cal Tech, people there already respect you, because of your work. They know, you know what you're talking about. But here, you'd have to earn it, with mostly physical work, and we know how that goes with you. Look at it this way, how well would the people at Cal Tech follow my directions for something related to Physics?"

Wyatt cleared his throat, "Slugger, I'm sorry."

Penny sprang up, gave her father a hug, and said, "That's OK, daddy, I forgive you." Wyatt looked relieved as she walked over to Leonard and gave him a hug. "Come on Leonard, were going out to get dinner tonight, Pizza and some salads. I'm going to call it in, we'll go pick it up."

The other three looked surprised, but it was Susan who spoke up, "I thought you didn't want to go out anymore. That you wanted to leave to avoid all the stuff you've had to deal with the last few days."

Penny looked frustrated when she said, "Don't you think I've already thought about that? Maybe, just maybe, I'll stay in the car and send Leonard in to get the food, so I don't have to worry about seeing anyone?"

The other three nodded together. Penny laughed and pulled out her phone, looking up the restaurant's phone number, to call their food order in.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N. I know, I know, this is very late. Between my play and repairs to the house (new walls, new ceiling,** **built in bookcase in the den and the new roof and then the new tile, new furniture, new tile in the dining area and kitchen, plus a few other things), I really haven't had time to write or edit. Well, here is the final chapter, although there will be an epilogue. Oh, I just want to point out, this story, like my other stories, has the characters IC most of the time. Even the next one, which I'm back working on, keeps the characters IC, even if there is a lot more angst than usual for me. It's the way I do it, I can do no other.**

Chapter 15

All four had finished eating, they had left the remains of their dinner scatter on the kitchen table while they went out to watch TV. After about an hour, Penny said, "Come on Leonard, we have to clean up, and then go start packing."

Susan sounded sad, "Do you really have to go?"

"Yes, mom," said Penny, "we do. Leonard has to be back to work next Wednesday and it's four days, at the rate we drive. We were thinking about stoping in Las Vegas, but now, were just going to spend a day at the Grand Canyon."

"Gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too," said Penny. "Come on Leonard." And they headed off toward the kitchen. Thirty minutes later they were up on their bedroom, with their suitcases open. Their plan was to lay out two outfits, placed all their other clean clothes into the suitcases, and put the dirty clothes into the hamper. They were planning on doing their laundry tomorrow, so the only dirty clothes they would have, would be what they wore tomorrow.

Penny was packing her things into her suitcase, when she looked up and saw Leonard looking at her and he had a huge grin on his face. "What are you thinking about?" Said Penny suspiciously. "You look very happy. Come to think of it, you've been grinning most of the day."

"Oh, nothing much, just the trip," said Leonard turning away.

"You've got an awfully damn big grin, for just thinking about the trip," said Penny. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," said Leonard.

"Leonard, look at me," said Penny. Leonard turned and Penny continued, "Don't give me that nothing. Tell me…" Penny's eyes went wide, as she realized what Leonard was thinking about. "Don't even think it means a proposal."

"What are you talking about?" Said Leonard innocently.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about," said Penny. "My mother pointed it out to me earlier. I may be thinking of it subconsciously, but I'm not ready yet, consciously."

"Penny, you have this all wrong," said Leonard, trying and failing to keep a grin off his face.

Penny walked up to Leonard, Putting her face right up to Leonard's. His smile disappeared, and looked worried. Penny said, "When my mother told me what I said, I knew you probably had picked up on it. So, I admit it, I said husband." Leonard's grin returned as soon as Penny said it.

"But, let's also talk about you telling my father seemingly everything that's been going on in our relationship," said Penny. Leonard's smile disappeared quickly.

"I…I…well…it's…."

"Why Leonard?"

"I don't know," said Leonard, looking down. "I didn't plan it that way. After I called your father about that date to the shooting range, he would call every month or so, or I would call him, and he would ask how things were going. It just became something regular, I didn't really think about it."

"Well, I can believe that," said Penny, shaking her head. "How can you be so smart, and do some really stupid things?"

"I don't know," said Leonard. "When it comes to you I don't think sometimes. And, when it comes to thinking about getting married to you, I think even less."

Penny sighed, "I know my commitment problems aren't helping. I'm not their yet Leonard, so it's no use thinking about it. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Leonard's grin, returned, "I know Penny, but when I think about it I smile. You're going to have to give me that one."

"OK, fine," said Penny, "but, just leave it there. I don't want to hear about it again. And, you don't talk to my father, unless were both talking to him."

"What about if I'm planning a surprise, you know like that shooting range date?"

"Well, for something like that, it's OK," said Penny. "But, nothing about our how our relationship is going, got it?"

"Yeah, OK," said Leonard.

"Good," said Penny, "now, throw me my pants and shirts, so I can pack them."

They finished their pre-packing, and then headed for bed. It was to be their last day on the farm and they had some things they wanted to do.

They were surprised the next morning when they got down to the kitchen and found Susan had gotten the eggs and was already preparing breakfast. Leonard got their coffee and Penny got juice for everyone and set the table. There was some small talk while they ate, but Penny finished quickly because she wanted a last walk around the farm, before getting all the things done before they left.

Like the clothes they had to start washing, before they could get started on that walk. So, they started the first load before headed out to the barn. Penny brought some carrots for the horses, and Moondance. Penny scratched behind Moondance's ears, then they headed over to the milking station. Penny wanted to see some of their cows.

She stopped and looked back toward the barn, the tractor shed, and the house, with a far away look in her eyes. Leonard now knew that she was thinking of her childhood, not about staying, so he didn't say anything, just let her remember.

She took Leonard toward the pasture behind the Tractor shed, and then toward the house. They ended up on the opposite side of the house, from the back door, and Penny walked to a swing, hanging off of a tree there. It was a simple piece of wood, with a rope tied around a branch. Penny sat down looked at Leonard and grinned. "Come on, Leonard push me."

Leonard was grinning back, "You're old enough to swing by your self."

Penny pouted, at which Leonard laughed and moved behind her, and pushed her gently. After a couple of swings, Penny said, "Thanks for bringing me here, Leonard. I've had a good time."

"Even with the guy's you ran into?" Asked Leonard.

"Yes, even with that," said Penny. "It's always good to seen the farm, and mom and dad. They're getting older and they won't be here forever. I'd like to come back in a few years. But, next time, I'll call who I want to see, and they can come over here. Or, maybe have my mom and dad come out and visit. We'll see, come on."

Penny jumped off the swing and headed toward the pasture fence. They were both leaning on it, watching the cows. Penny pointed to the roof of a house. They couldn't see the house, just the roof. "That's the house we were at the other day on the horses, Mrs. Bennent's house. Leonard just nodded and they continued looking over the pasture, until Penny finally said, "Come on, we have to get back."

They headed back to the house, and after getting there, Penny checked her laundry. The load she had put in was out, and in the dryer, and another load of their clothes were in. "Mom," she called out, " did you do our clothes?"

"Yes, honey," came Susan's voice from the living room. "I put one in the dryer and started another, they should almost be done also."

Just as Penny looked, the washer shut off. She opened the dryer and found those dry, so she put them in the basket, put the clothes currently in the washer, into the dryer and started it, then put their last load of clothes into the washer. Picking up the basket, she said, "Come on Leonard, help me fold these and then we can pack them."

They spent the rest of the morning folding, then packing their clothes, as each load came out, then made sandwiches and soup for all when Susan and Wyatt joined them. Penny told her parents about her looking over the farm, then Wyatt spoke up. "Hey, slugger, we haven't had our ride yet, and you're leaving tomorrow morning. How about we take that ride this afternoon."

Penny thought for a minute, "We have one more load, to fold and pack, after it gets out of the dryer, how around around 1:30 or so?"

"That's sounds good," said Wyatt.

"Can Leonard come along?"

Wyatt looked surprised, "Does he want to? If he does, he's more than welcome."

Leonard nodded and Penny said, "Yes daddy. He says he's enjoyed the rides we taken. Last time, he showed he can get on and off by himself."

"Ok, then," said Wyatt, "all three of us will go."

They finished lunch and Susan and Wyatt cleared the table while Penny and Leonard started folding their last load. Wyatt came up and said he was going to go out and said he was going to get the horses ready to ride, and left.

A half hour later, Leonard and Penny arrived in the barn, to find all the horses saddled and ready to ride. Penny said, "Watch daddy, how Leonard can get on."

Leonard put his foot in the left stirrup, grabbed the horn on the saddle, and pushed up with his leg, pulled on the horn and swung his leg over. Unfortunately for Leonard, he pulled too hard and swung his leg too hard and found himself leaning to his right. He tried to get his right foot in the right stirrup, but he missed and found himself hanging onto the horn of the saddle, while sliding down the side of the right side of the horse, while Penny and Wyatt rushed over to help him.

Both of them were chuckling as they lowered Leonard to the floor. Leonard ignored them and moved to the left side of the horse again. He repeated the procedure and this time was rewarded with finding himself sitting in the saddle. Both Wyatt and Penny grinned, and soon they were all leaving the barn, headed toward the front of the property.

Wyatt, Penny, and Leonard were walking along the fence line, the same one Wyatt and Leonard had taken in the tractor. Wyatt explained that the route was going to be along the entire property line of Wyatt's land. They rode slowly, stopping to look at various things that Wyatt or sometimes Penny pointed out. It had taken a couple of hours to ride along the entire three miles of the property's perimeter and another half hour to take the equipment off the horses.

After returning to the house, all three of them grabbed a beer and sat in the living room with the TV on, talking about the trip home and the new planned stop at the Grand Canyon. After an hour, Susan came in and asked Penny if she would help with dinner.

Penny came out of the kitchen to announce dinner was ready. They sat down, and Leonard found green beans, mashed potatoes and country gravy and fried chicken on the table. They all sat and started eating, when Leonard suddenly stopped.

"Er, is this one of your chickens?"

"Does it matter Leonard?" Asked Susan.

"I suppose not," said Leonard. "It's just after seeing your chickens, I was just wondering about this chicken."

"Well, you don't have to worry about it," This chicken comes from the meat department of Hy-Vee food stores."

Leonard looked relieved and said, "I don't know why but that makes a difference."

Penny, Wyatt and Susan all laughed, and everyone continued eating.

After dinner, all of them pitched in to clean up, and they then headed for the living room.

They were still discussing the trip, the good and the bad, when Penny said, "Daddy, you wouldn't mind us coming back again, would you?" "I'd love that, slugger."

Susan said, "I would love it myself."

"Or," said Penny, "you two could always come out and visit."

Wyatt looked at Susan and said, "Sure, we'll come out for your wedding."

Penny was drinking her tea and it was all she could do, to not do a spit take, while Leonard chuckled. Penny looked at her father and said, "Then you're going to have to wait. I'll let you know when."

Wyatt and Susan both laughed and then Wyatt said, "Only kidding you slugger. We'll think about it, but it probably won't be until you do decide you're going to get married. But, you tell us, OK?"

"OK," said Penny. "but, we'll see about coming back, in a few years.

"Really," said Susan, "While I like it, I find that surprising considering how things went over the last few days."

"I don't think I'll have a problem with you and daddy next time," said Penny. "As for the others, as I told Leonard, I'll just call who I want to see, and have them come over here. That way, I don't have a problem running into people I don't want to see."

"Or, maybe," said Penny with a mischievous grin, "Leonard and I won't stay here, we'll move further along into Omaha, or may stopped short of here. That way, I won't see anyone I don't want to, and it would limit the time here with you."

Wyatt and Susan looked strangely at Penny, until she finally started laughing and said, "Bazooka as one of our friends say."

Wyatt and Susan's look didn't change.

Leonard laughed, "Actually it's bazinga, it simply means 'I got you'."

At that, Wyatt and Susan grinned. Penny and Leonard were also grinning, then Penny said, "Actually, it's time for us to get to bed. We'll be traveling tomorrow." At that they said goodnight to Penny's parents and headed up to their room. They finished their evening rituals and headed for bed.

 **A/N Yeah, here's another A/N. Speaking of the next story. I need some guidance. I'll state upfront, that if I wait to publish until it's almost finished, it won't be ready for probably over a year. Now, I didn't want to publish this one until I was finished, and that mostly worked until this chapter. I want to ask my readers if they would prefer I wait until it's almost finished, so chapters come out regularly, or publish chapter by chapter, even if that means there will times with long breaks between publishing, as life interferes or I get stuck and work out how to proceed. PLEASE PM ME, WITH YOUR THOUGHTS, BUT PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE IT AS A REVIEW. Thanks**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N OK, as promised, here's just a short epilogue. Sets up a couple of points for the rest of season 7. Thanks for reading and and especially big thanks to those who reviewed. Working on the next one.**

Epilogue

They stopped to change drivers, having just crossed into Colorado. They had been on the road for seven hours, and had been driving for five. They still had another couple of hours to go before stopping for the night in Sterling, Colorado. It would also be another hour later due to moving into the Mountain time zone.

Susan had been up early and had breakfast ready for them. Wyatt had helped them load the car. Penny had given both her mother and father a hug, while Leonard had hugged Susan and gotten a very hearty handshake from Wyatt. With both Penny and Leonard waving at Wyatt and Susan, as they waved back, they pulled out of driveway and were on the road by 8 AM.

After two hours, Leonard had started driving, and Penny had taken back over after lunch, and now, after this change, Leonard was driving. They had been quiet for most of the drive, and the last hour hadn't been any different, as they thought about the trip.

While he drove, Leonard would try to think of what he was going to have to do, once he got back to Cal Tech. He also thought of how silly he was, thinking he could actually run a farm. There was also having to think about where they were staying, the route, and their planned stops, on the way home. But, as much as he tried to avoid it, his thoughts would go back Penny's slip with the word husband, and he would smile.

He knew he would have to wait for Penny to be ready, but the fact that she thought like that at all was, he thought, a major step forward. He wouldn't push it, now that he knew she was thinking about it. At least he might get to use the ring in his wallet sooner than he thought.

Penny knew what he was thinking about every time she saw him smile. She also knew she would have to live with it, as she told Leonard it was OK with her, as long as he didn't actually speak of it. Penny had put her seat down a bit and laid back. Her eyes were closed but she wasn't asleep. While she had thought about other aspects of the trip earlier, she was thinking the conversation with her mother.

 _Why did I have to mention that word? It would have been fine, and my mom couldn't have pushed me, if I just hadn't said it. Although I now have a better idea of why I haven't proposed yet, even though I know I've been thinking of him that way for a while. Ahhhh, but she still doesn't really know everything, that I want to have some progress in my career, before I get married._

 _I've got several auditions coming up, and I have that one callback, to…what is it? JAG? CSI? CSTD? Aw hell, it's the one with Mark Harmon. If I get in there, I'll have a role, people will see me, and I'll get more roles and I'll finally have a career. Then I can propose to him._

 _But what happens if I don't get the role? I know he makes me happy and is good for me. But, it's my career that is what I want, and is what will make me happy, so I can be happy for Leonard. So, Leonard will just have to wait, for now, while I work on my career._

 _Maybe it would better if I quit The Cheesecake Factory and put more effort into acting. Spend more time looking for acting jobs, taking acting classes, things like that. That might give me a better chance at all the auditions. But, if I do that, I'll have to rely on Leonard even more, paying my bills, getting food. Do I really want…_

"Penny?"Said Leonard, "Are you asleep?"

"No, I'm not," said Penny, "just thinking about some auditions coming up, why?"

"Well we have about another hour to go," said Leonard. "I was just checking."

"Don't worry," said Penny with a smile, "I'll be awake when we get there."

"OK," said Leonard as he smiled back, "I love you."

Penny's kept smiling as she laid back and closed her eyes, "I love you, too."


End file.
